Headline
Visit to Lagos: Rotary International President, Shekhar Mehta Urges Members To Do More Projects
Rotary International President, Shekhar Mehta, has urged Rotarians in District 9110 comprising members from Lagos and Ogun States to redouble their efforts at doing good and touching lives in their various communities.
Rotarian Mehta who was accompanied by his wife, Rashi and Past Rotary International Vice President, Yinka Babalola, was in Lagos as apart of his official visit to Nigeria and was received on arrival by Remi Bello, FCA, Governor of Rotary International District 9110 and other leaders.
The Rotary President who had earlier commissioned the Indo Eye Care Hospital as part of his Lagos visit noted that he was delighted to see Rotary’s excellent and impactful projects.
Mehta revealed how participating in service projects through Rotary changed him as a person and made him empathize more with the needs of others. Soon after joining his club, he helped carry out projects that benefited rural communities in India.
Speaking later at the Rotary Centre, Mehta observed the vaccination of secondary school girls against cervical cancer.
An elated Mehta said the scourge of Cervical Cancer was real and praised District 9110 for taking up the challenge of reducing the disease.
Mehta stated that he wanted members to focus their efforts on empowering girls and ensuring their access to education, resources, services, and opportunities so that future generations of women leaders will have the tools they need to succeed. Mehta averred that diversity, equity, and inclusion was critical to Rotary’s work.
He noted that just as the organization took up the challenge of ridding the world of Polio, the fight against cervical cancer was winnable.
As a means to encourage Nigerians to care more for their environment and continue the fight against global warming, the Rotary International President also planted some trees at the Rotary Centre.
He said the gesture was not only to show that we should take actions to improve our environment but it symbolizes growth.
He said there was a need for Rotarians to grow more by introducing more people into the service organization. He said his target under the Each One Bring One, Retain All programme was to add at least 100,000 members in the next one year. Adding “If we grow more by adding more members, we would be able to also do more projects and save more lives”.
He also paid a visit to the Polio House where he was received by the Chairman, Nigeria National Polio Plus Committee, Dr Tunji Funsho, a Past District Governor, who took him on a tour of the facility.
Rotarian Mehta commended the work of the Polio Plus Committee and applauded it for its contribution to the effort that has made Nigeria and Africa free of the Wild Polio Virus.
He noted that the experience that Rotary has garnered through over three decades of Polio vaccination will be deployed to help the world fight COVID-19 pandemic and reduce the issue of vaccine hesitancy.
In his remarks, Rotarian Bello noted that District 9110 was excited and honoured to be the first port of call of the Rotary International President’s visit to Nigeria.
He revealed that the Rotary President’s activities were carefully chosen in line with his aim of enhancing health and education for the girl-child, membership retention and expansion as well as care for the environment.
Bello said the visit was significant because it will inspire Rotarians to do more community projects, touch more lives and impact humanity.
Later that evening, Rotarian Mehta and his entourage were hosted to a dinner at the Marriott Hotel, Ikeja were he savoured Nigerian culture, cuisine and hospitality.
Headline
IBB Set to Launch Long-awaited Memoir, ‘A Journey of Service’
Former Military President, Gen Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), is set to launch his long-awaited autobiography.
Reports said the memoir titled: ‘A Journey In Service’, will be released on February 20, 2025, at the Congress Hall of Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja.
The development is coming 32 years after IBB left office.
The regime of the former Head of State was negatively shaped and defined by the adoption of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) policy, among other regulations, which sparked a nationwide riot by student union and other similar groups.
There was also the unresolved murder of the late journalist, Dele Giwa, and the June 12 annulment, among other controversial issues.
While in office, IBB was popular with the moniker “evil genius” and “Maradona”.
Explaining the nicknames, IBB said they were manufactured by the media because of his “deft political moves”.
“That’s the very good thing about the Nigerian media and Nigerian people. You have to anticipate them.
“If you anticipate them, then you live well with them. They call me ‘evil genius’, I marvel at that. The contradiction, you can’t be evil and then be a genius.”
“The definition of Maradona I got from the media is because of deft political moves. That’s the way the media described it”, he had said.
He succumbed to pressure in August 1993 when he “stepped aside” for the late Ernest Shonekan as the chairman of the Interim Government.
The late General Sanni Abacha would, however, topple the government in 1993 and would subsequently die in office in 1998.
Although IBB granted interviews to local and international media since leaving office, he has somehow found a way around some of these contentious issues that happened during his rule.
About seven years ago, he had expressed doubts about writing an autobiography, saying he was uncertain if Nigerians would “want to read about a dictator”.
He added that the public had a wrong impression of him, citing his role in the June 12 crisis, and some of the policies he unfurled between 1985 and 1993 as head of a junta.
However, he made a U-Turn and wrote the book.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will lead former Nigerian leaders and their counterparts in other parts of Africa to grace the much awaited autobiography.
According to an invite dispatched to dignitaries this week, the board of trustees of the IBB Presidential Library Foundation said the book launch will take place alongside fundraising for a Presidential Library.
The organisers said the event would be chaired by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, with President Bola Tinubu as the Special Guest of Honour.
The keynote address would be delivered by the former president of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, while former vice-president Yemi Osinbajo would review the autobiography.
Other guests billed to attend include ex-presidents Muhammadu Buhari, Yakubu Gowon, Abdulsalami Abubakar, and Goodluck Jonathan.
A former Minister of Defence Gen. Theophilus Danjuma and Chairman of BUA Group; Abdul Samad Rabiu, are named chief launchers.
Headline
What is Going on in PDP is Extremely Embarrassing – Dele Momodu
A Peoples Democratic Party chieftain, and celebrated publisher, Chief Dele Momodu, has said that the situation in his party is worrisome and ‘extremely embarrassing’, acknowledging that the one time biggest party in Africa, is facing serious challenges.
Momodu made the remarks while fielding questions on a Channels TV current affairs programme, stressing that he is not ashamed of talking about the problems of the party, and regularly sharing his thoughts on social media.
He further expressed surprise that the party has not suspended or expelled him despite his open criticism.
Momodu described the situation in the PDP as embarrassing, noting that the party should be leading the opposition in Nigeria, but it is not living up to expectations and seems to have lost its direction. According to him, a few individuals have taken control of the party, making it difficult for it to function properly.
“I know that we have very critical problems in PDP, there is no questions. I am not ashamed. Every now and then I tweet or post in Instagram. I speak freely. I am even surprised that they have not suspended or expelled me from PDP because what is going on in PDP is extremely embarrassing. We should be leading the opposition parties in Nigeria but it is like we have virtually given up. We are allowing one or two people to hijack our party,” Momodu said.
Headline
Telecom Executive, Ahmad Farroukh Leaves Globacom
News of the early departure of Mr Ahmad Farroukh from the telecom giant Globacom suggests that he has been eased out in a shakeup by the management, according to an investigation.
“Ahmad Farroukh failed to meet up to expectations within his probationary period and he was politely asked to resign…” said an impeccable source.
“Despite the shake-up, Globacom’s commitment to innovation and expansion continues, reinforcing its competitive edge in a rapidly evolving telecom landscape..” the source further told us.
A former CEO of MTN Nigeria from 2006 to 2010, Farroukh joined Glo in October last year.
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