Contrary to recent reports that he is responding to treatment, P.M.NEWS investigations have revealed that former Biafran warlord, Dim Chukwuemeka Ojukwu may not be in any position to return to the country very soon as there has not been any significant improvement in his health since he was rushed to the United Kingdom last year.
P.M.NEWS investigations in London revealed that Ojukwu is still on admission and on life support machine at the intensive care unit of Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading, West Berkshire, where he was moved to on 27 June following anxiety over a fresh chest infection which worsened his condition.
Royal Berkshire is an NHS hospital but it was not clear if British tax payers are picking Ojukwu’s health bills. P.M.NEWS observed that Ojukwu was in a ward that any British tax payer would have been. It was also discovered that Ojukwu is not getting any special treatment that his condition deserved at the hospital.
Ojukwu is on admission at the Ememer Green ward of the hospital and the only person keeping him company when P.M.NEWS visited was Bob Enyeama who described himself as chief of staff to the former Biafran warlord. Though he insisted that the Eze Ndigbo was “in good health”, P.M.NEWS observed that Ojukwu was bed-ridden, appeared to be still with eyes constantly staring at the ceiling. Enyeama later chased the P.M.NEWS correspondent out of the ward when he knew about his mission. But a member of staff of the hospital told P.M.NEWS that they are waiting for the family members of the Biafran warlord to decide if the life support he is on should be switched off.
Asked if Ojukwu could still make it with his current condition, she replied: “You saw him yourself, what do you think?”
P.M.NEWS was also at the other institutions where the Biafran warlord has been treated since he was taken to London. Ojukwu was rushed to the Royal Berkshire hospital from the Lynden Hill Care Home, Berkshire where he was admitted on 6 June, 2011.
The Lynden Care Home is located in an isolated countryside and the clinic in its promo claim to specialise in “natural healing”. It is suspected that after all normal medical efforts failed his handlers may have resorted to the “natural healing” at the care home.
A worker who claimed anonymity stated that the home could only have him for a few weeks as he was reaching a “vegetative stage, could not respond to sound or his environment”. Some members of Ojukwu family had earlier condemned the transfer of the former Biafran warlord to this institution which they said have no facilities for comprehensive specialist care and rehabilitation services like physiotherapy, speech therapy and high level of nursing input which Ojukwu requires in his present condition. Before then, Ojukwu was on admission at Wellington Hospital, North West London, and sources within the hospital claimed that when he was brought in, his condition had deteriorated and he spent most of the time on wheelchair and assisted care. Sources claimed his condition never improved and he was “self-checked out again”.
When he was flown to the United Kingdom on 23 December last year as a result of the rapid deterioration of his health, the first institution Ojukwu was admitted to was the London Clinic, Devonshire Place, London. Though P.M.NEWS confirmed that the Eze Ndigbo was admitted at the hospital, they would not comment on his state of health on admission but they did confirm a “self-check out” by those who brought him in. The findings by P.M.NEWS confirmed assertions by some close members of family of Ojukwu. “At no stage at the London Clinic and later when he was moved to Wellington was he well enough talk, sit or eat let alone exercise without being assisted by a physiotherapist,” a source close to the Ojukwu family had told P.M.NEWS while disputing the claims that Ojukwu was on his way back to Nigeria as published in some newspapers.
P.M.NEWS investigations revealed that members of Ojukwu’s family are calling for the return of the former warlord to the London Clinic where they believed he can get better specialist care.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Photos from Glory Chuku and Uchechi Umunna's wedding
NASS Members Visit Flooded Areas Of Lagos State
Photo source: PM News.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
How You Can Be Able To Build Your Dream Company From Home
Yes, this is all an exaggeration. After all, some offices will need to provide a space for face-to-face meetings. But it’s hard to argue that the growing popularity of the home-based business model isn’t becoming a characteristic of the entrepreneurial mindset. Now, more than half of all small businesses in the United States are based out of the entrepreneur’s home, according to the Small Business Administration. That’s around 15 million home-based businesses, and represents about $500 billion in revenue every year.
Obviously, the costs of running a business from home is advantageous because it’s cheap.
It’s simple, says Danny Wong, co-founder of Blank Label, a start-up that offers custom men’s shirts. Wong and his co-founders have a completely bootstrapped approach to their business model—and opening an office just didn’t make sense for them. “We just didn’t want to pay,” Wong says. Blank Label is also a paradigm for the 2011 version of a virtual company. They use video chat and Google Wave when the team isn’t together, and they’ve never even met one of their developers, who lives in Orange County. “We video chat with him, but he’s always kind of in the dark,” Wong says.
Cutting costs early on can be attractive to investors, too. “Bootstrapping in this fashion creates a lean, efficient business model that will appeal to investors and buyers later on,” says Sam McRoberts, founder of Vudu Marketing, which is based out of McRoberts home in Provo, Utah.
But for many, running a business from home has very little to do with the money it saves them. It’s all about, as one entrepreneur put it, the “10-step commute.”
Hakan Nizam, who runs a web development company out of his home in Brooklyn, enjoys a more fluid approach to his business model. When Nizam needs to meet with clients, he rents a conference room at a co-working facility in a location that’s convenient for them. If one of his temporary employees wants to work at a desk, he rents them one. Nizam doesn’t have any permanent employees—he mostly just hires freelancers and independent contractors, when needed. “It’s like a team,” he says. “I am happy, they’re happy. It’s all virtual.”
For Emily Newman, founder of Once Wed, an online resource for brides-to-be, working from home was pretty much a necessity. “My father lives with us,” Newman says. “He got sick a while ago and working from home allows me to be there for him. It’s been a huge benefit of my business.”
Raising a family is no longer a reason—or excuse—to prevent the launch of a company, either. Stacy Blackman, for example, chose to keep her consulting company based from home in Los Angeles, California to be closer to her three young children. “I transition between the ‘professional me’ and the ‘personal me,’” she says. Jenny Ford, who runs Monkey Toes, a home-based shoe and clothing retailer in Denver, Colorado, says she works during her daughter’s naptime.
Home-based franchises, which often swell with popularity during a recession or a tough labor market, can be an easier transition for someone looking to launch their business from home. The franchise model is known for its hands-on services—maintenance, repairs, and services—but according to Chris Couri, the founder and CEO of We Do Lines, a Ridgefield, Connecticut-based parking lot striping franchise, it’s really just a sales and marketing job. “Other than the paint on pavement, which you hire a crew to do, we built the system around making it easy for someone to run this business off a Droid phone and a laptop,” he says.
Stewart Vernon, the founder of America’s Swimming Pool company (ASP), one of the country’s largest pool maintenance franchises, says that the home office is the ideal place to start your business, and that most of his franchisees eventually segue into retail or office space. “Our business model is certainly based around home offices,” he says. “But the longer term goal is to have offices or retail space,” he says.
Still, there is a darkside to running a home-based business. For many entrepreneurs, starting and running a business out of a home office has felt like a carefully guarded secret.
“It almost has a negative connotation, like you’re doing this cute little thing,” says Chris McCann, co-founder of Startup Digest, which is based out of McCann’s home in Palo Alto, California. But Startup Digest is anything but “cute.” In less than a year, its subscriber base has grown to reach over 100,000 subscribers in 50 cities.
Perhaps another Inc. writer put it best. “Outsiders are apt to view even the most successful virtual companies with a measure of skepticism, if not outright derision,” wrote senior writer Max Chafkin in an April 2010 Inc. feature story. “Convincing them otherwise means carefully managing perceptions about yourself and your company.”
But managing these perceptions has become a relatively easy task. Services like Google Voice offers specialized phone settings to make your company appear larger than it may actually be, and project management tools like Acunote let you work in the cloud with clients.
Another concern for the home-based business model revolves around the fear of distractions. But these fears tend to be largely unfounded. A 2009 survey conducted by CISCO, for example, found that 67 percent of its workers found working from home—verus working out of an office—improved the quality of their work.
This is because work does not get done at work, said Jason Fried, founder of 37Signals and Inc. columnist, at a recent TED conference. “I’ve been asking this question for 10 years—where do you go when you really need to get things done?” he said to an audience. “I’ll hear things like the porch, the deck, the kitchen, an extra room in the house, coffee shop, basement, train, plane, car…you almost never hear anybody say the office.” Why? Because the office is filled with interuptions that you can’t control.
But beyond the improved productivity, the low barriers of entry, the convenience of removing a commute, and the ability to be close to a family, there’s a more intangible advantage of working from home. It’s liberating.
“To me, the best part about it, was that I just feel much more alive doing this,” says Alex Martin, a tax consultant who launched his company, Productive Pricing, from his home in Plymouth, Michigan after over a decade working a corporate job. “I do things my own way.”
2015: How Igbo can be president, by Uwechue
ENUGU— PRESIDENT General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Ambassador Ralph Uwechue, weekend, said that unless the South-East geopolitical zone pressed for a constitutional amendment that would enshrine the reality and absolute equality of the six geopolitical zones and work collectively to secure the presidency after the South-South in 2015, it would be difficult for Igbo to regain their leading role in the nation’s polity.
Uwechue also lamented that the South-East zone, which had been in the forefront of the nation’s affairs, had been relegated to the background.
In a lecture, entitled: “Charting a new course for the Igbo nation in the Nigerian Polity” at the inauguration of the Richard Agu-led executive committee of Enugu Sports Club, Uwechue noted that Ndigbo had been consistent in the pursuit of national unity and inter-ethnic cooperation.
He stressed that under the leadership of the late Owelle of Onitsha, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Igbo played the role of bridge builders in the fledgling Nigerian nation.
Uwechue said: “Ndigbo, apart from their demographic weight, are exceptionally resourceful as evidenced by their outstanding achievements in various fields of human endeavour, both at home and abroad.”
He traced the core problems facing Ndigbo at the national political stage to the immediate events that preceded the civil war from 1967 to 1970, saying it created fear and distrust among the Igbos.
According to Uwechue, despite the immense contributions of the South East zone to the nation’s development, the zone has remained the only zone that has not produced the president of the country since the birth of Nigeria some centuries ago.
He said, however, that the zone had not helped matters, despite its obscure nature due to the continued infighting and divisions which had become the hallmark in Igbo affairs anywhere in the country
He said Ohanaeze Ndigbo was putting great emphasis on uniting the people and guiding them towards a common political and economic agenda, stressing that the target was to ensure that Ndigbo focussed attention on securing the presidency, which, according to him, is the master key to any national development exercise.
In this regard, he disclosed that Ohanaeze had now put up a case and was seriously canvassing for the rotation of the office of president among the six geo-political zones of the country.
Uwaechue disclosed that the rallying cry for Igbo support for President Goodluck Jonathan during the last April general elections was based on the premise that power should rotate within the six geopolitical zones.
He said the emergence of the next president from the South East was not a privilege but a legitimate political right and should be seen as such by all well meaning Nigerians in the interest of sheer equity and national well being.
source
Uwechue also lamented that the South-East zone, which had been in the forefront of the nation’s affairs, had been relegated to the background.
In a lecture, entitled: “Charting a new course for the Igbo nation in the Nigerian Polity” at the inauguration of the Richard Agu-led executive committee of Enugu Sports Club, Uwechue noted that Ndigbo had been consistent in the pursuit of national unity and inter-ethnic cooperation.
He stressed that under the leadership of the late Owelle of Onitsha, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, the Igbo played the role of bridge builders in the fledgling Nigerian nation.
Uwechue said: “Ndigbo, apart from their demographic weight, are exceptionally resourceful as evidenced by their outstanding achievements in various fields of human endeavour, both at home and abroad.”
He traced the core problems facing Ndigbo at the national political stage to the immediate events that preceded the civil war from 1967 to 1970, saying it created fear and distrust among the Igbos.
According to Uwechue, despite the immense contributions of the South East zone to the nation’s development, the zone has remained the only zone that has not produced the president of the country since the birth of Nigeria some centuries ago.
He said, however, that the zone had not helped matters, despite its obscure nature due to the continued infighting and divisions which had become the hallmark in Igbo affairs anywhere in the country
He said Ohanaeze Ndigbo was putting great emphasis on uniting the people and guiding them towards a common political and economic agenda, stressing that the target was to ensure that Ndigbo focussed attention on securing the presidency, which, according to him, is the master key to any national development exercise.
In this regard, he disclosed that Ohanaeze had now put up a case and was seriously canvassing for the rotation of the office of president among the six geo-political zones of the country.
Uwaechue disclosed that the rallying cry for Igbo support for President Goodluck Jonathan during the last April general elections was based on the premise that power should rotate within the six geopolitical zones.
He said the emergence of the next president from the South East was not a privilege but a legitimate political right and should be seen as such by all well meaning Nigerians in the interest of sheer equity and national well being.
source
6-yr term for president, govs: SENATORS DISAGREE
The move to elongate the tenure of the president and governors from the current four years to six but limited to one term as against the present two via a constitution amendment may be a titanic battle between Nigerians in favour and those against.
This is evident in the disposition of many senators who are bracing up for the battle ahead of the amendment to the constitution, the third attempt since 1999 when Nigeria returned to democratic governance.
The first effort was aborted in 2006, no thanks to the bid to extend the tenure of former President Olusegun Obasanjo from the two terms provided under the 1999 Constitution to three while the second, last year, succeeded and amended certain electoral provisions in the document.
Although the National Assembly is alleged to have issues with funding on the latest constitution amendment as there is no provision in the current budget for the exercise, the House of Representatives has already constituted a 37-member Constitution Review Committee (CRC) for the amendment, leaving the Senate to do same.
Other issues that may enjoy prominence under the constitution amendment include state creation and the emergence of a new revenue formula.
The South-East, which is the only geo-political zone out of the six that has five states as against six by the others, has been in the forefront of the creation of at least an additional state in the zone.
Revenue allocation formula has, of late, been a contentious issue amid the new minimum wage crisis which has seen the states hinging their ability to pay on the upward review of their allocation from the federation account.
Senators, who shared their perspectives on the constitution amendment that would give the president and governors a single term of six years, are divided on the move.
Senator Babayo Gamawa (PDP, Bauchi North) described the six-year single term as the road to corruption and under-performance by the president and governors.
To Senator Ifeanyi Okowa (PDP, Delta North), single term will kill the opportunity by the electorate to assess the office holders before renewing their mandate.
Senator Ita Solomon Enang (PDP, Akwa Ibom) said single term of six years is a wicked move.
Senator Smart Adeyemi (PDP, Kogi West) believes single tenure will remove frictions and promote national development.
Senator Uche Chukwumerije (PDP, Abia North) contended that single tenure for the president and governors will ease the operation of power shift.
To Senator Esther Nenadi Usman (PDP, Kaduna South), the issue should be left for the people to decide.
The senators spoke separately to Sunday Vanguard at the weekend.
Kicking against the six-year single tenure move, Gamawa said it will make the incumbent to under perform knowing fully well that he will not be eligible for re-election.
He said, “Everybody has his or her own ideas when it comes to politics. But in politics, there should be room for opposition and checks. If we allow single term of six years, somebody will forget to do something good for the electorate because they know that they are not coming back for election.
“But leaving the four year single tenure as we have now with an option of another four years, if you are lucky to be re-elected as an incumbent, you will want to do something good for the people. I think the two-term system is good for us. There will be more productivity and more accountability to the people.”
Okowa, who toed Gamawa’s line, noted that the current status of four-year single term with an option of another term should be maintained. “I support two terms of office because it gives the public the room to assess you midway before the election. If you as a governor or president performs or not, the electorate will assess you and decide whether to vote for you or not, but the single tenure does not give room for them to assess you. You can just come on and do whatever you like and then go because nobody will assess you knowing that you are not coming for election again”, the senator said.
The senator added that stakeholders must be brought on board to decide whether Nigeria needs six years single term or four years of two terms.
He said, “For now, there is constitutional provision for a four-year term of office for the president and the governors. Anything outside that has to come through amendment of the constitution. We just came out of election and the people of Nigeria voted for four years. We need to have a stakeholders view on this and any change should only come up through amendment of the constitution.”
Adeyemi said six-year single tenure will remove frictions and engender development in Nigeria.
“I think it is good if you take into consideration our development and our diversities as a people. It is not out of place because it will enable us stabilize the polity because every area knows that it will get to them. It will enable Nigerians to have a sense of belonging, because the fear of marginalisation will be gone, as every section of the country will not feel they are being marginalized”, he stated.
Chukwumerije said that four-year term is not enough, but a six year single term should be enough for any one who comes to office with a vision to settle down and carry out developmental work, adding that this would enable the government meet the expectations of the people.
According to him, with single six-year term, the people would be be sure of power shifting to all the geo-political zones of the country.
Senator Zainab Kure (PDP, Niger South), who noted that she only read it in the newspapers, said that nobody has presented the matter before her or the Senate and, on that score, she may not be able to comment on that.
Enang, who described the move as too early, said that anyone who is thinking of the single six-year term at this critical period of the nation’s democracy is wicked.
According to him, what should preoccupy the minds of Nigerians now must be how to support President Goodluck Jonathan in delivery to the people the dividends of democracy, adding that the president has just kick started his economic blueprint for the country and recently put in place his ministers to drive the economy in creating employment and developing the country.
Vanguard.
This is evident in the disposition of many senators who are bracing up for the battle ahead of the amendment to the constitution, the third attempt since 1999 when Nigeria returned to democratic governance.
The first effort was aborted in 2006, no thanks to the bid to extend the tenure of former President Olusegun Obasanjo from the two terms provided under the 1999 Constitution to three while the second, last year, succeeded and amended certain electoral provisions in the document.
Although the National Assembly is alleged to have issues with funding on the latest constitution amendment as there is no provision in the current budget for the exercise, the House of Representatives has already constituted a 37-member Constitution Review Committee (CRC) for the amendment, leaving the Senate to do same.
Other issues that may enjoy prominence under the constitution amendment include state creation and the emergence of a new revenue formula.
The South-East, which is the only geo-political zone out of the six that has five states as against six by the others, has been in the forefront of the creation of at least an additional state in the zone.
Revenue allocation formula has, of late, been a contentious issue amid the new minimum wage crisis which has seen the states hinging their ability to pay on the upward review of their allocation from the federation account.
Senators, who shared their perspectives on the constitution amendment that would give the president and governors a single term of six years, are divided on the move.
Senator Babayo Gamawa (PDP, Bauchi North) described the six-year single term as the road to corruption and under-performance by the president and governors.
To Senator Ifeanyi Okowa (PDP, Delta North), single term will kill the opportunity by the electorate to assess the office holders before renewing their mandate.
Senator Ita Solomon Enang (PDP, Akwa Ibom) said single term of six years is a wicked move.
Senator Smart Adeyemi (PDP, Kogi West) believes single tenure will remove frictions and promote national development.
Senator Uche Chukwumerije (PDP, Abia North) contended that single tenure for the president and governors will ease the operation of power shift.
To Senator Esther Nenadi Usman (PDP, Kaduna South), the issue should be left for the people to decide.
The senators spoke separately to Sunday Vanguard at the weekend.
Kicking against the six-year single tenure move, Gamawa said it will make the incumbent to under perform knowing fully well that he will not be eligible for re-election.
He said, “Everybody has his or her own ideas when it comes to politics. But in politics, there should be room for opposition and checks. If we allow single term of six years, somebody will forget to do something good for the electorate because they know that they are not coming back for election.
“But leaving the four year single tenure as we have now with an option of another four years, if you are lucky to be re-elected as an incumbent, you will want to do something good for the people. I think the two-term system is good for us. There will be more productivity and more accountability to the people.”
Okowa, who toed Gamawa’s line, noted that the current status of four-year single term with an option of another term should be maintained. “I support two terms of office because it gives the public the room to assess you midway before the election. If you as a governor or president performs or not, the electorate will assess you and decide whether to vote for you or not, but the single tenure does not give room for them to assess you. You can just come on and do whatever you like and then go because nobody will assess you knowing that you are not coming for election again”, the senator said.
The senator added that stakeholders must be brought on board to decide whether Nigeria needs six years single term or four years of two terms.
He said, “For now, there is constitutional provision for a four-year term of office for the president and the governors. Anything outside that has to come through amendment of the constitution. We just came out of election and the people of Nigeria voted for four years. We need to have a stakeholders view on this and any change should only come up through amendment of the constitution.”
Adeyemi said six-year single tenure will remove frictions and engender development in Nigeria.
“I think it is good if you take into consideration our development and our diversities as a people. It is not out of place because it will enable us stabilize the polity because every area knows that it will get to them. It will enable Nigerians to have a sense of belonging, because the fear of marginalisation will be gone, as every section of the country will not feel they are being marginalized”, he stated.
Chukwumerije said that four-year term is not enough, but a six year single term should be enough for any one who comes to office with a vision to settle down and carry out developmental work, adding that this would enable the government meet the expectations of the people.
According to him, with single six-year term, the people would be be sure of power shifting to all the geo-political zones of the country.
Senator Zainab Kure (PDP, Niger South), who noted that she only read it in the newspapers, said that nobody has presented the matter before her or the Senate and, on that score, she may not be able to comment on that.
Enang, who described the move as too early, said that anyone who is thinking of the single six-year term at this critical period of the nation’s democracy is wicked.
According to him, what should preoccupy the minds of Nigerians now must be how to support President Goodluck Jonathan in delivery to the people the dividends of democracy, adding that the president has just kick started his economic blueprint for the country and recently put in place his ministers to drive the economy in creating employment and developing the country.
Vanguard.
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