The Future Nigeria

President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday 09/10/09 for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.

The stunning choice made Obama the third sitting U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace Prize and shocked Nobel observers because Obama took office less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline. Obama’s name had been mentioned in speculation before the award but many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to award the president.

Speculation had focused on Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, a Colombian senator and a Chinese dissident, along with an Afghan woman’s rights activist.

The Nobel committee praised Obama’s creation of “a new climate in international politics” and said he had returned multilateral diplomacy and institutions like the U.N. to the center of the world stage. The plaudit appeared to be a slap at President George W. Bush from a committee that harshly criticized Obama’s predecessor for resorting to largely unilateral military action in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Rather than recognizing concrete achievement, the 2009 prize appeared intended to support initiatives that have yet to bear fruit: reducing the world stock of nuclear arms, easing American conflicts with Muslim nations and strengthening the U.S. role in combating climate change.

“Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future,” Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Nobel Committee said. “In the past year Obama has been a key person for important initiatives in the U.N. for nuclear disarmament and to set a completely new agenda for the Muslim world and East-West relations.”

He added that the committee endorsed “Obama’s appeal that ‘Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.’”

President Theodore Roosevelt won the award in 1906 and President Woodrow Wilson won in 1919.

The committee chairman said after awarding the 2002 prize to former Democratic President Jimmy Carter, for his mediation in international conflicts, that it should be seen as a “kick in the leg” to the Bush administration’s hard line in the buildup to the Iraq war.

Five years later, the committee honored Bush’s adversary in the 2000 presidential election, Al Gore, for his campaign to raise awareness about global warming.

The Nobel committee received a record 205 nominations for this year’s prize though it was not immediately apparent who nominated Obama.

“The exciting and important thing about this prize is that it’s given too someone … who has the power to contribute to peace,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said.

Nominators include former laureates; current and former members of the committee and their staff; members of national governments and legislatures; university professors of law, theology, social sciences, history and philosophy; leaders of peace research and foreign affairs institutes; and members of international courts of law.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation welcomed the award on behalf of its founder Nelson Mandela, who shared the 1993 Peace Prize with then-South African President F.W. DeKlerk for their efforts at ending years of apartheid and laying the groundwork for a democratic country.

“We trust that this award will strengthen his commitment, as the leader of the most powerful nation in the world, to continue promoting peace and the eradication of poverty,” the foundation said.

In his 1895 will, Alfred Nobel stipulated that the peace prize should go “to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses.”

Unlike the other Nobel Prizes, which are awarded by Swedish institutions, he said the peace prize should be given out by a five-member committee elected by the Norwegian Parliament. Sweden and Norway were united under the same crown at the time of Nobel’s death.

The committee has taken a wide interpretation of Nobel’s guidelines, expanding the prize beyond peace mediation to include efforts to combat poverty, disease and climate change

Youngest school headmaster

Around the world millions of children are not getting a proper education because their families are too poor to afford to send them to school. In India, one schoolboy is trying to change that. In the first report in the BBC’s Hunger to Learn series, Damian Grammaticas meets Babar Ali, whose remarkable education project is transforming the lives of hundreds of poor children.

At 16 years old, Babar Ali must be the youngest headmaster in the world. He’s a teenager who is in charge of teaching hundreds of students in his family’s backyard, where he runs classes for poor children from his village.

The story of this young man from Murshidabad in West Bengal is a remarkable tale of the desire to learn amid the direst poverty.

Babar Ali’s day starts early. He wakes, pitches in with the household chores, then jumps on an auto-rickshaw which takes him part of the 10km (six mile) ride to the Raj Govinda school. The last couple of kilometres he has to walk.

The school is the best in this part of West Bengal. There are hundreds of students, boys and girls. The classrooms are neat, if bare. But there are desks, chairs, a blackboard, and the teachers are all dedicated and well-qualified.

As the class 12 roll-call is taken, Babar Ali is seated in the middle in the front row. He’s a tall, slim, gangly teenager, studious and smart in his blue and white uniform. He takes his notes carefully. He is the model student.

Babar Ali is the first member of his family ever to get a proper education.

“It’s not easy for me to come to school because I live so far away,” he says, “but the teachers are good and I love learning. And my parents believe I must get the best education possible that’s why I am here.”

Raj Govinda school is government-run so it is free, all Babar Ali has to pay for is his uniform, his books and the rickshaw ride to get there. But still that means his family has to find around 1,800 rupees a year ($40, £25) to send him to school. In this part of West Bengal that is a lot of money. Many poor families simply can’t afford to send their children to school, even when it is free.

Chumki Hajra is one who has never been to school. She is 14 years old and lives in a tiny shack with her grandmother. Their home is simple A-frame supporting a thatched roof next to the rice paddies and coconut palms at the edge of the village. Inside the hut there is just room for a bed and a few possessions.

Chumki Hajra, a pupil at Babar Ali’s school, describes her day

Every morning, instead of going to school, she scrubs the dishes and cleans the homes of her neighbours. She’s done this ever since she was five. For her work she earns just 200 rupees a month ($5, £3). It’s not much, but it’s money her family desperately needs. And it means that she has to work as a servant everyday in the village.

“My father is handicapped and can’t work,” Chumki tells me as she scrubs a pot. “We need the money. If I don’t work, we can’t survive as a family. So I have no choice but to do this job.”

But Chumki is now getting an education, thanks to Babar Ali. The 16-year-old has made it his mission to help Chumki and hundreds of other poor children in his village. The minute his lessons are over at Raj Govinda school, Babar Ali doesn’t stop to play, he heads off to share what he’s learnt with other children from his village.

At four o’clock every afternoon after Babar Ali gets back to his family home a bell summons children to his house. They flood through the gate into the yard behind his house, where Babar Ali now acts as headmaster of his own, unofficial school.

Lined up in his back yard the children sing the national anthem. Standing on a podium, Babar Ali lectures them about discipline, then study begins.

Babar Ali gives lessons just the way he has heard them from his teachers. Some children are seated in the mud, others on rickety benches under a rough, homemade shelter. The family chickens scratch around nearby. In every corner of the yard are groups of children studying hard.

Babar Ali was just nine when he began teaching a few friends as a game. They were all eager to know what he learnt in school every morning and he liked playing at being their teacher.

Now his afternoon school has 800 students, all from poor families, all taught for free. Most of the girls come here after working, like Chumki, as domestic helps in the village, and the boys after they have finished their day’s work labouring in the fields.

“In the beginning I was just play-acting, teaching my friends,” Babar Ali says, “but then I realised these children will never learn to read and write if they don’t have proper lessons. It’s my duty to educate them, to help our country build a better future.”

Including Babar Ali there are now 10 teachers at the school, all, like him are students at school or college, who give their time voluntarily. Babar Ali doesn’t charge for anything, even books and food are given free, funded by donations. It means even the poorest can come here.

“Our area is economically deprived,” he says. “Without this school many kids wouldn’t get an education, they’d never even be literate.”

Seated on a rough bench squeezed in with about a dozen other girls, Chumki Hajra is busy scribbling notes.

Her dedication to learning is incredible to see. Every day she works in homes in the village from six in the morning until half past two in the afternoon, then she heads to Babar Ali’s school. At seven every evening she heads back to do more cleaning work.

Chumki’s dream is to one day become a nurse, and Babar Ali’s classes might just make it possible.

The school has been recognised by the local authorities, it has helped increase literacy rates in the area, and Babar Ali has won awards for his work.

The youngest children are just four or five, and they are all squeezed in to a tiny veranda. There are just a couple of bare electric bulbs to give light as lessons stretch into the evening, and only if there is electricity.

And then the monsoon rain begins. Huge drops fall as the children scurry for cover, slipping in the mud. They crowd under a piece of plastic sheeting. Babar Ali shouts an order. Lessons are cancelled for the afternoon otherwise everyone will be soaked. Having no classrooms means lessons are at the mercy of the elements.

The children climb onto the porch of a nearby shop as the rain pours down. Then they hurry home through the downpour. Tomorrow they’ll be back though. Eight hundred poor children, unable to afford an education, but hungry for anything they can learn at Babar Ali’s school.

Culled from CNN.

Young girl plans on surviving life alone after quake in Malaysia. 

Indonesia recently went through various earthquakes that took lots of lives. A particular village Malalak was totally destroyed and is now a mass grave.

Septiani, 18, was at her boarding school when it all happened. She learned from the news that her village was damaged and tried frantically to get in touch with her family over the phone. No one had the heart to tell her her family was dead.

When she arrived at the site where her home once stood in Malalak, there were no younger brothers and sister running out to greet her. All that was left in place of her home was dirt.

She was left orphaned, alone. Her young face reflects the intense sorrow she is still getting used to.

“Shock, it was just pure shock,” she says. Her eyes are dry, but her face is twisted with emotions. “I just want to find my family. My mother, she loved me so much.”

More than 30 villagers — young and old — lost their lives in Malalak. Right after the earthquake, the side of the mountain exploded and came barreling down, swallowing everything in its path. There used to be a mosque with a volleyball court out front. Nearly a dozen children were playing there when the landslide came, and they were all swept away.

At least 608 people were killed in Indonesia following two devastating earthquakes last week. Hundreds are still missing and authorities fear the death toll will climb as more bodies are found in the rubble.

We made the journey to Malalak with a small aid convoy, an initiative by Romeo Rissal Pandjialam, the regional director for Bank of Indonesia. Along the winding mountain roads we could see the devastation. Smaller landslides narrowed the road with debris, crushed homes lined the route.

In Septiani’s words,”I told myself this is God’s way of testing me. I have to be strong, I have to finish school,” Septiani swears. Her breath is labored and her voice soft as she fights her emotions and the overwhelming pain of losing her family and their love but she is determined to overcome her loss and move on with life and become someone her parents will be proud of.

The Future Awards is looking for talented young singers from across the country!

Apart from talking about Nigeria when we go on our town hall meetings across 8 states, and getting quality nominations from different parts of the country, we also want to uncover and promote new talent that should take Naija by storm!  

SO, as we go from state to state, we will looking for 6 talented artistes from each geo-political zone of the country who will be part of a Nigeria@50 commemorative CD titled “I Represent Naija”.

The CD will feature 6 popular artistes and then the 6 selected upcoming artistes from all over the country. They also get a chance to perform at the awards in February.

Competitions for this august event will be held at our town hall meetings in Abuja, Kaduna, Adamawa, Enugu, Osun, Portharcourt, Calabar, Asaba and Benin.

If you are an upcoming artiste or you know an upcoming artiste whose talent is just FANTASTIC, send the name, location and phone number to info@thefuturenigeria.com, and title the mail “I Represent Naija competition”

When we get to your state, you will show us what you’ve got. Send your details NOW, as the town hall meetings are starting in a matter of days!

Every once in a while, some people step up to us – we call them professional cynics – and say: how can The Future Awards be celebrating Nigeria? What is there to celebrate? We should be protesting, we should be mourning; there’s nothing to be happy about! And we tell them: you obviously haven’t been paying attention.

How can you say there is nothing to celebrate when you look around Nigeria?

True, many times, our nation can confound us. Our politics is essentially warped, which is putting it mildly, and our economy is, to put it simply, a disgrace. We do not have a coherent sense of identity, and outside the country, we are not invited to meetings where nations that matter sit. If the point wasn’t clear enough, not only did President Obama ignore the country months ago, his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, came over here and drove the point home.

Talking about young people, as we speak, schools across Lagos are on strike. Lagos state primary and secondary school teachers have accused the government of insensitivity. In Edo State, the governor, a former labour leader himself ,is yet to resolve a strike with lecturers, and across the nation university students have been at home for more than 13 weeks.

And, for heaven’s sake, why do we still have no light?

So, yes, things have fallen apart. Yes, there is plenty to mourn.

But listen, out of all this rot, last year we found young people like Mosunmola Umoru, a young farmer who, when we checked her books, has gone through some frustrating challenges, enough to make anybody give up, but has continued to build a viable agricultural business that made her a Goldman Sachs scholar – she won for Business Owner of the Year. We found an Emmanuel Etim, who, from a small office in Surulere sponsoring the education of one or two young people, has now begun to consult for the United Nations and the Africa Union – he won for Best Use of Advocacy. And then, from a small shop on the Lagos Island, Uche Nnaji is opening up two new fashion OUCHlets – he won for Style Entrepreneur of the Year. These are only a few examples. All of these done without stealing a kobo, without government contracts, without a family fortune to dip into. And you say we should not celebrate them?

We cannot be fixated on government. Many societies have been regenerated outside of government, and in spite of destructive politics. Nigerians have to focus on the pockets of change going on everywhere else; to acknowledge them, to sustain them and to form a network of positive, change-oriented activity.

Because the more you acknowledge and celebrate those small, steady steps, the more you are able to sustain them. And the more you sustain them, the more you are able to build an army of young Nigerians who create enough value to have the confidence to do what is right. A confidence that can only come from socio-economic security.

But you see, instead of understanding and keying into this positive, unstoppable movement – many choose to belittle it, even to attack it.

The young Nigeria is unfairly, and sometimes deliberately, misunderstood. When he says he is Naija for instance, some people say it is frivolous. They would rather call the generation unserious – even mis-directed. Even though, like musician Banky W eloquently said early in the year, we are a generation that had to learn even when there was no one to teach us. Like roses among thorns, we grew even when there was no one to support us.

When Banky W sings about the indomitable spirit of the Nigerian, they say he is only screaming ‘Ebute Metta’. When the Rooftop MCs sing of achievement and humility, they only hear ‘e la gi mo’ (break his head). When DJ Zeez says 4kasibe, they don’t see that, like TV presenter Funmi Iyanda says, the young man is asking that you apply your energy into a pursuit until you break through, and when 9ice begins to ‘spit’ – they don’t understand the swagger and the confidence he speaks of; The sefl-affirmation that tells the young Nigerians that he (or she) can do just about anything he sets his heart on.

It is the same way they see Wande Coal and only hear his song ‘Lepa too bad’. But Wande also spoke about the Nigeria of his dreams.

In the very second track on his first album, he spoke of a time when you were proud to be Nigerian. Of a time when there was education, when there was employment, when there was healthcare. But now, ‘everything don dabaru’.

How can we get back to that time? A time when there was hope, when there was faith, when we had confidence in our nation? When you could go outside the country and not be gripped with trepidation whenever you get to immigration even though you did nothing wrong? When we didn’t have to queue at the embassies until we are about to faint. How can we proud of Nigeria once again?

Well, we are here to tell you that that time is almost here.

Every other week, the likes of D’banj and Psquare and Basketmouth are creating jobs for Nigerians across the world, performing at sold out concerts and generating income that comes back home. Across the continent, actresses like Omotola and Rita Dominic and others are being celebrated as African heroes. The likes of Temidayo Israel and Emmanuel Etim are criss-crossing the world, engaging institutions and world leaders. Our last Model of the Year, Olubunmi Ademokoya, just got signed in New York, and our models are the in thing in Jo’burg. Asa performs from Japan to Cambodia, Qudus Onikeku dances from Paris to Ethiopia. They can see world leaders and stand up to them – because there is no shallowness and corruption to make them ashamed. They enter embassies and speak with the confidence that Nigerians once used to have. These young people are conquering the world and re-branding the country.

Ladies and gentlemen, THEY are presenting a new face of Nigeria.

They are presenting that newness, that freshness, that brightness that we young people now call Naija. And we represent that Naija.

So if you say there is nothing to celebrate, we say to you that you don’t know what’s up. And that is what The Future Awards has set out to do – to show you what’s up.

You either go with the flow, or we will leave you behind. Nobody can stop my generation. Ladies and gentlemen, dem no reach!

Thank you. And God bless Naija.

*This speech was given by Chude Jideonwo at the launch of The Future Awards Season 5 on the eve of Nigeria’s 49th Independent Anniversary, in Lagos. www.thefuturenigeria.com

CS MEMBERSHIP ‘EARN ‘N’ WIN’ PROMO!

BE at the centre of all the action on Central Station as Zain rewards all loyal central station users with mouth – watering gifts.
From October 21 – November 21, 2009; Zain Central Station will give out cool prizes courtesy of Anabel Mobile to portal users who acquire at least 2,000 points within the promo period.

How to win?
Winning is very simple…yeah, this simple!

Reactivate your membership or JOIN Central Station and get right into the middle of the action. Add friends, join groups, comment on posts and share in the fun and excitement that Central Station brings everyday. The more fun you have, the more prizes you win!

Earn 2,000 points and take home 2 Zain/MTV Dog tags, Advance Warning CDs, N500 Recharge Vouchers.

5,000 points make you a confirmed BIGZ boy or girl with Advance Warning CDs and N1,000 Zain airtime to go too!

With 10,000 points, an Anabel Bee Gee Swagga + Advance Warning CDs PLUS N1, 000 airtime are ALL yours!

Are you ready to show some Effizy with 15,000 points? We bet your friends will feel you when you flash your Anabel Revolution Bee Gee /ICE, + sim + Advance Warning CDS+Dog tags!

Ginger your swagga by earning 20,000 points. Stroll out in style from any Zain office with an Anabel Effizy Dual SIM smart phone, a SIM and of course, Advance Warning CDs and Dog tags to pimp your style!

VIPs only:
Yeah, become a VIP on Central Station by earning 30,000 points!
Tell us what’s better than the King of all prizes…an Anabel PS 100 smart phone, a sim AND an exclusive one-year VIP pass to ALL major events – all for just 30,000 points.

How can you be a part of this?
Winning is this simple: Reactivate your membership or JOIN Central Station and get right into the middle of the action.

Add friends, join groups, comment on posts and share in the fun and excitement that Central Station brings everyday. The more fun you have, the more prizes you win!

HURRY, get into the action and don’t forget to spread the word. This is where it will all happen from NOW till the 21st of November, 2009.

Winners will be announced on the 21st November 2009 on Central Station and presentation of prizes immediately after….
HOW MANY POINTS DO I EARN WITH EACH ACTIVITY?
Successfully invite a friend:100 points
Add an existing user as a friend: 15 points
Upload a video/audio: 5 points
Upload a photo: 5 points
Update basic info: 5 points
Update photos: 2 points
Terms and conditions apply

Facebook and Deaths

In an Oct. 26 blog post, Max Kelly, Facebook’s head of security, announced the company’s policy of “memorializing” profiles of users who have died, taking them out of the public search results, sealing them from any future log-in attempts and leaving the wall open for family and friends to pay their respects. Though most media reports claimed this was a new Facebook feature, a spokeswoman for the company told TIME that it’s an option the site has had since its early days.

The company decided to publicize the policy because of a backlash caused by a new version of the site’s homepage that was rolled out on Oct. 23, which includes automatically generated “suggestions” of people to “reconnect” with. Within days of the launch, Twitter users and bloggers from across the Web complained that some of these suggestions were for friends who had died. “Would that I could,” complained a user on Twitter before ending her tweet with the hash tag #MassiveFacebookFail.

“We understand how difficult it can be for people to be reminded of those who are no longer with them, which is why it’s important when someone passes away that their friends or family contact Facebook to request that a profile be memorialized,” Kelly said in the post. To discourage pranksters, Facebook does require proof before sending a profile down the digital river Styx. Family or friends must fill out a form, providing a link to an obituary or other information confirming a user’s death, before the profile is officially memorialized. Once that is completed, the user will cease showing up in Facebook’s suggestions, and information like status updates won’t show up in Facebook’s news feed, the stream of real-time user updates that is the site’s centerpiece. If relatives prefer not to have the profile stand as an online memorial, Facebook says it will remove the account altogether.  

Better publicizing memorialized profiles is an attempt by Facebook to answer lingering privacy concerns. Canadian privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart investigated the company in July and issued a report that asked Facebook to explain certain areas of its privacy policy, including policies regarding the profiles of deceased users. In response, the company promised to issue a new privacy policy that better articulates how user information is treated postmortem and offered the commissioner an outline of its memorializing policy, nearly three months before the blog post explained it to users. Spokeswoman Anne-Marie Hayden says the privacy commissioner was “quite pleased” with Facebook’s response to the office’s concerns and says the commissioner will review the detailed version of the site’s new policy, expected in late October.

Facebook’s attempt to clearly state its policy is prudent, as other social-networking sites have struggled with the question of users’ deaths. MySpace in particular has had a difficult time with digital rubbernecking — during the site’s heyday, a handful of well-trafficked blogs specialized in matching MySpace profiles directly to obituaries and posting the pairings online for all to see. By sealing profiles to family and friends and removing profiles from search results, Facebook assuages users’ fears that they’ll be fodder for online voyeurs in the event of their untimely demise — hopefully putting the issue to rest.

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Vote Here: http://www.thefuturenigeria.com/vote/

#iRePresent Naija: The Future Awards launches 2010 campaign

In less than 5 years, The Future Awards has built a strong reputation as a credible and relevant awards event. Beyond that, ‘The Future’ has become a movement aimed at promoting youth development in all segments of Nigerian society. The 2010 Edition of the Future Awards is set to be the most exciting yet! This week, the 2010 campaign was launched in Lagos this week. The iRePresent Naija campaign for 2010 was also unveiled – it features past winners including Funke Akindele, Mosumola Umoru and Cobhams Asuquo.

Nominations for the 2010 awards are now open!Do you know any young Nigerians between the ages of 18 to 31 who are making Nigeria proud? Doing great stuff? Nominate them! The categories are as follows: click here for more

The Future awards is proud to be associated with this month’s TARUWA which is tagged ‘tHe FuTuRe’. It promises to be an extra- exciting night and I am sure you won’t want to be missing out on this. Issues concerning our ‘Future’ will be discusssed with great personalities that truly shape the future of Nigeria; musicians, writers, poets , The Future Awards crew and more will be present.
The discussions at this meeting could be the agents of change for tomorrow, it’s not just an event for young people to sit down and socialize; this is an opportunity for you to express your views on the future of Nigeria and proffer solutions to the problems we have presently. Come; let’s discuss the future of Nigeria in a fun way and make our future a better place for our generation and the generations coming after us.
The venue is Black pearl, Akin Adesola ; date is 3rd of Nov; time 6.30pm-9.00pm. Don’t be told about it, be there live to give your own contribution. If interested in performing, you can send in your names to 08036621897, and performance confirmation shall be given to chosen artists.
Lets go do it the TARUWA way..