Yinka Craig (1948-2008)

October 2, 2008October 2, 2008 / Adeola / 12 Comments

Culled from the Nigerian Guardian Oct 2 2008

YINKA Craig, iconic broadcaster, one of Nigeria’s shining lights in sports journalism, an articulate compere and a detribalised Nigerian, died on September 23, aged 60. He was an amiable man who distinguished himself in his chosen career, for close to 40 years and who, in the process became a mentor to many.

Widely regarded as a role model, Craig, a man of many parts, lost his spirited battle of over 18 months with cancer of the lymphatic systems at a clinic in Rochester, Minnesota in the United States of America. He approached the illness with the same attributes for which he was known: courage and dignity. Coming shortly after the death of celebrated musician Sunny Okosuns, who also died of cancer, and disturbing reports of the spread of cancer-related ailments affecting prominent Nigerians, Craig’s death has again raised public concern about cancer, its treatment and the need for early diagnosis.

Early in life, Craig had planned to study Sociology preferrably to the Ph.D level in the United States and stay there as a lecturer, but fate had his path cut out for him in broadcasting. He joined the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (now Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria) in 1967 as a studio operator. He rose to the limelight as a sports commentator and analyst in the 1980s while on the staff of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). A very well-informed commentator, he was one of the most travelled broadcast journalists of his time. Craig later confessed that he had to give up sports analysis in order to diversify his talents. That decision brought out the best in him as a multi-talented professional.

Following his voluntary retirement from the NTA in 1990, he went into packaging private corporate documentaries just as he was involved in information technology (IT) and computer operations, through his marketing communications outfit, Yinka Craig and Associates. He remained actively involved in television programming and soon became famous for his presentation of Newsline, a highly regarded news magazine feature on television. Later, Craig also served as the main anchor of AM Express, an early morning show that is laced with freshness and originality. Craig impressed viewers with his encyslcopaedic grasp of varied subjects and inimitable presentation style.

He never quite realised his dream of studying sociology or obtaining a Ph.D; although in later life he had tried to return to school, he was a self-made man who developed himself so well and rose to the peak of his career. A jolly good fellow from a popular family in Abeokuta, Ogun State, he was always at ease playing the guitar, the piano or the sax. In no small measure did he add value to the entertainment sector in the country. As the attestation goes, he was a charming, nice person to relate or work with. Easy-going, his presence was dignifying as he carried himself with so much respect.

The Chairman of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, Lagos chapter, Niyi Oyeleke, has observed that Craig valued the virtues of accountability and transparency. The former Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Danladi Bako sees in him “one of the most effervescent broadcasters in Nigeria…who knows a bit about everything and everything about a bit.” Craig, the Federal Government observed in a statement, impacted positively on many Nigerians.

He deserves these accolades and more, and even more instructive was the passion and concern that his illness generated when it became public knowledge. Individuals, groups and corporate entities offered to contribute to Craig’s huge medical bills and did so. The Ogun and Lagos State Governments in particular were among the most generous contributors to the Yinka Craig fund, with the latter donating as much as N15 million, and promising to give the departed a befitting burial. That Nigerians can be so caring and generous is reassuring.

In Craig’s case, as in other instances, medical help had to be sought abroad eventually. Medical facilities in Nigeria are inadequate. This is a persistent challenge that governments at all levels must address. Yinka Craig’s life should inspire the young ones in our society who are easily discouraged, who are tempted to imagine defeat in every situation and who are forever tempted to cut corners where hard work is required.

Beware of this Scammer!

September 26, 2008September 26, 2008 / Adeola / Leave a comment

By Adeola Aderounmu

There is a scammer who’s been going around defrauding women around the world especially Canadian women.

His aliases are as follows:
Reuben Yusuph, Lucky Mike, Ajibola Reuben Yusuph, and Williams Bab Rice. There is a possibility that he has other names.

His telephone number is most likely: 2347028751653 which means that he is probably resident in Nigeria. He has also been collecting money by WESTERN UNION with this name: Ajayi Olayinka Adedayo which may probably be his real names or the names he had on an identity card/international passport that is tenable at a bank.

This scammer may be resident at room 11b in a certain Hotel called Paragon Hotel. It is very possible that the scammer is actually not staying at the hotel.

However the Paragon Hotel in Lagos is at this address:
Paragon Hotel: Address: 24/26 Sanya Street, Aguda, Surulere, Lagos
Phone: +234 1 833615, 848634, 848802

None of these information are actually indicative that the perpetrator is Nigerian or resident in Nigeria. In the scam world, anything is possible!

I have it on good authority that this scammer succeeded in duping gullible women from Canada but I don’t know if he is still on the rampage possibly operating under other names.

Here is a report from one of the women who had been a victim:

To whom it may concern,

I am a Canadian that would like to know if you have ever heard of a man in Nigeria that would have a scam going on contacting woman, on sites like FaceBook and others stating that there are other that Nigerians.

He starts by contacting you in a very friendly way in getting you to be very open with him and then that day come that he would ask you for money…

For some reason or another, we have here many names but it seems to be the same person, same picture and he has many e-mail addresses, and phone numbers.

For us to reach him but it all come down to making up stories that he needs money for …….

I would like you to be aware of this… . we are more than 20 woman that have spoken to this man and we all got the same story I believe that he does not work alone, he says he is in spain, working for a Architec co. and that he lives in the States, you can see his profile explaining it all.

Some of us have reason to believe that this man is a fraud just trying to get Money. I have caught him under so many names and stories that were lies, I just want to know if there is a way to find out more about this scam .

I do know that your country is in need of many new structure and that your people suffer but taken from us is this way does not make things any better for you, and the innocent get punished for what the bad ones do…

Kathleen Lariviere

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I feel sorry for these women but again, it takes a greedy person to make a scammer succeed. That is my own personal opinion. If someone ask you for money and promise to give you more money later, common sense dictate that that is simply fraud. It is so unfortunate that victims of fraud always fail to see this and they are so blinded by the promise of earning millions of dollars from nowhere!

Anyway, I hope that all those who are interested in avoiding being defrauded or those who are not sure if a business proposal is true or false will learn a lesson from this. Don’t do business someone who is promising you money by asking you to send a few dollars first.

The fraudster will always come back asking for more and more and before you know it you would have sent thousands of dollars. Scammer keep promising and keep asking for little amount at a time but these little amounts add up at the end of the day.

The fraudster is probably using the pictures of innocent people. I think that the pictures that go with his scam mails have nothing to do with his real person.

I have not succeeded in putting up the images that this guy is using to defraud people but I have it on my FACEBOOK AT THIS LINK

Possibly fake images of the scammer

NIGERIA, Not Missing The Point!

September 25, 2008 / Adeola / Leave a comment

Adeola Aderounmu.

It will be very instructive not to miss the points about the situation of things in Nigeria. There is no doubt that Nigeria is a very beautiful country (by nature) and a very wonderful geographical entity. There is no doubt that Nigerians are beautiful, hardworking and kind. However it is in this same Nigeria that you have beasts and lunatics who have used the instruments of governance and power to sentence millions of Nigerians to a life of perpetual poverty and agony. It is in this same beautiful Nigeria that you have some of the worst attributes of a democratic nation.

Those who govern in Nigeria are exceedingly rich. They are so rich that they could provide for their 14th unborn generation. They are so rich that they could stash away billions of dollars in foreign accounts and when they die, the money is lost to these useless oversea hypocritic countries. They tell us now that Nigeria is so corrupt that she occupies the 121st position on the ladder of corruption. How corrupt then is the United Kingdom, the United States and all these funny isolated islands who accept money from Nigerian thieves? Nonsense!

Indeed corruption is very rampant around the world but to different degrees and dimensions. It is such in Nigeria that while the public officers are getting richer and more insane, they do so at the expense of two things: the people and the negligence of public service. No administration in Nigeria has admitted to being a corrupt one and that is ridiculous. The point is that each administration is afraid to prosecute the previous one because they all have the same evil intention and that is to steal and loot from what they called the national cake. This is the monumental tragedy that has befallen Nigeria since independence. This is the biggest tragedy that has plagued Nigeria which has made it possible for the common man to live a fulfilling life.

It is made worse because of the influence of mistrust, tribalism, nepotism and extreme but inadmissible hatred for one another. There is a lot of pretense in the air and self preservation is the only law in Nigeria public service. The principle of me, myself and I is the most functional element in Nigeria military or political governments. The result is that an individual who is in public service becomes the only means to alleviate himself, his acquaintances, friends and families from the shackles of poverty and penury.

The consequence is the elaborate mind game that determine who survives and who suffers in Nigeria. Those who survive on their own are in a way the extraordinary people who stumble on the required space and function that allowed their relevance to be explored as it should have been normally. They are few and mostly intellectuals. You will find this category of people across all strata of the Nigerian society. All over the world, people in this category are used to keep the society in good shape and function. In Nigeria, they are usually hidden and silent.
There is a growing branch of the Nigerian society who are the opportunists as mentioned earlier who get rich because of the relationship that they have to power or to someone in power. There is nothing wrong with have this connection or influence but the mechanism that runs it is based on a corrupt system, a winner takes it all attitude and a mentality that focuses on self or just a few in the best situation.

We have failed to realize that the society is supposed to be built on fair play and equal opportunities. We stopped rewarding merits and excellence while promoting one useless concept called federal character. We promote violence and aggression. We, in general, promote evil over good and vices over virtues. So in essence we miss the point about the real situation of things once we get our hands on what we want. The me , myself and I attitude promotes a mentality of the survival of the fittest whereas the resources dictate otherwise. Nigeria is running a system that is defiant to the stipulations of nature and natural laws.

For example, the people of Nigeria have no business being poor. It is very unfortunate that more than 90m Nigerians are poor and cannot by themselves determine what they want to eat or how they want to eat. They cannot even determine how they want to live! It is extremely shameful that Western Union is going from Europe and America to Nigeria. Under natural laws, it should be the other way round. Nigerians are supposed to be the richest in the world not only as country but as individuals. Unfortunately, only a few Nigerians have ganged up to be in this “richest category”. It should have been everyone.

Indeed there will always be poor people everywhere but that the poor outnumbered the rich in Nigeria is catastrophic in economic evaluation. How is that possible? It is possible because as mentioned earlier, there are people who can provide for their nth generation while the living are starving. There are monies scattered all over the world in foreign banks and foreign economies and these have no real value or use to Nigerians who are alive. There are people living in Nigeria with monies that they would never be able to earn if they lived up to a million years. Yet they have this money and the state and people cannot take from them. It’s shocking and amazing!

I cannot understand why the poor cannot rise against the government in Nigeria. I mean it is a game of number, more than 90m against the others. What are we talking about? I am guilty of not fighting against the evil in my society they way I should when I was living in Nigeria. I tried a little though and I thought I did my best.

Ordinary Nigerians are so focused on religion and other things that they forget how life should be. Some people have never experienced how a good life feels like. The society is so fractionated that some people tell you stories that I call “make believe”. Those who think they are fortunate or even smart to be doing well invariably always forget what they see and those they encounter on the streets everyday.

I have written about Nigeria in many ways and from many angles and my message is the same: it is possible for all Nigerians to live a good life. But so far, there is no indication that that hope will be realized soon.

The government is in business as usual, reshuffle the cabinet and let other thieves come and steal their own part of the national cake. The politicians will never be prosecuted or they will never be made to refund the money they stole. No one is talking to Babangida anymore. He is permanently above the law. This man stole money that some African countries don’t even have! Obasanjo just messed up the power sector, he will never have to account for that! From 1960 to 2007, Nigeria continues to promote idiocy and madness in government and public service. I cannot stop saying that mad men are ruling in children! I have no other explanation for the unbelievable status of Nigeria in the comity of nations.

Everyone is public service must be good, accountable, prosecutable and intellectually functional if the society and country must move forward. Unfortunately, Only a few men are good but their efforts cannot cover 150m people. It doesn’t work that way especially when these good people are not even in public service. You must be crazy to survive Nigeria’s kind of democracy.

Nigeria is my country of birth. I’m still proud to be a Nigerian. It’s the pride of the black nation but I would really love to see my continue make real progress, not abstract or imaginary progresses. I look forward to the tangible things that can make life worth living in Nigeria.

Constant power supply, Good roads, modern and affordable health care (so the president does not fool around the world), good educational system (so the useless ministers will not be sending their children abroad), clean water and beautiful (affordable) houses and everything that promote merit over tribalism and mediocre. Nigerians abroad want to come back home. They need a place to call their real homes: This is the dream! I

Tanzania, others ban China’s tainted milk

September 22, 2008 / Adeola / 1 Comment

CULLED FROM THE NIGERIAN GUARDIAN, SEPT 22 2008

IN the wake of the scandal in China involving milk contaminated with the toxic industrial chemical melamine, three African countries-Tanzania, Gabon and Burundi have banned imports of Chinese milk products.

In Tanzania, the country’s food and drug authority said government officials at all border points had been ordered to be “extra vigilant with all dairy products from China including yoghurt, ice-cream powder and chocolate.”

It said experts had also been sent “to check retail and wholesale outlets for any possible traces of tainted milk that had made its way” into the east African country.

Authorities in Libreveille at the weekend banned the import of all brands of Chinese milk until further notice.

The government decree also said that Chinese powdered milk already in the shops would be taken off the shelves.

China admitted this week that milk powder contaminated with melamine, which is used in plastics, had made at least 6,200 babies ill nation-wide and killed four over a period of many months.

Yili, Mengniu and Guangming — big brands consumed and trusted by hundreds of millions of Chinese — were affected by the recall after authorities checked their products and found traces of melamine.

As well as Gabon and Tanzania, the brands incriminated in the scandal export to Bangladesh, Burundi, Myanmar and Yemen.

Melamine added to milk and other food products gives the appearance of higher protein levels.

Burundi became the third African nation to ban Chinese milk products, after tainted milk from the country killed four babies in China and made thousands of others ill, the government said.

“The trade, industry and tourism ministry is calling on importers and shopkeepers who stock Chinese milk to stop selling the product until the end of an investigation,” a ministry statement said.

“This measure also concerns the sellers of repackaged milk, whatever its origin,” added the statement, while urging consumers to keep a watchful eye on the packaging of milk products.

A special commission has been set up to investigate the scale of the tainted milk problem in Burundi and “take urgent measures to protect the population,” the statement said.

Burundi imports milk products from two Chinese companies that are currently embroiled in the tainted powdered-milk scandal.

Four children have died and at least 6,200 are ill owing to milk products contaminated with melamine, an industrial chemical used in the manufacturing of plastics.

A Burundi consumer association, known as ABUCO, expressed concern that tainted milk products were already being stocked in the country’s shops.

“For the moment, nobody knows if the milk is being sold on the Burundi market,” said Noel Nkurunziza, the president of ABUCO.

On Saturday, Gabon and Tanzania banned Chinese milk products and all Chinese dairy

The World Health Organisation yesterday said it was helping China solve its tainted milk formula problem, while criticising the government for initially failing to alert the international community.

Beijing officially sought the WHO’s help on September 11, telling the UN body it had monitored 6,244 cases of people ingesting formula tainted with the industrial chemical melamine, WHO Western Pacific director Shigeru Omi told a news conference in Manila.

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BLOG COMMENT

Does anyone knows how many African children that have died due to chinese poison. This is the same China that is becoming the main partner to African countries.

I hope these poisons from China are not being sent to Nigeria because that would add to the mortalities from malaria and other preventable childhood (respiratory) diseases.

Well done to Tanzania and the other countries. I hope that ALL countries in Africa will as a matter of fact stop the importation of poisonous food from China. Think about the children and their future, stop feeding them with poisons that would cause death and mental retardation.

Wake up Africa and make the best use of the resources and food in your own domain.

Power Sharing is neither “Democracy” nor Democratic

September 18, 2008 / Adeola / Leave a comment

By Adeola Aderounmu.

It is not obvious that the deal in a number of countries esp in Africa is that the leaders should jostle for power and position regardless of what the people think or want.

Recently we saw power sharing deal in Kenya. Now Zimbabwe has done the same. In a nutshell, it simply means that the people can go to hell and rot away with their votes. Who cares?

If this is the solution to democratic approaches, why do these idiots share power after wasting billions or millions of dollars on conducting election.

In my country Nigeria, it is no secret. Your votes don’t count! We know that and still every 4 years some idiots conduct elections. The results are known before they send the masses out in harsh weather on a wild goose chase.

In Kenya, we saw how innocent people laid their lives fighting that their votes be counted and considered. Nigerians did that in 1993 on a lower scale. They-the people-died in vain. In Zimbabwe there is serious problem and the best way out is a proper dispensation of democracy (as one would have thought) but what we saw in the end was power sharing.

May I propose that in all these countries, the useless leadership should spare us the agony of expecting or monitoring elections.

Please continue to share the power and continue to loot your economy and continue to let the people live below poverty level. Stop disturbing world order with announcement of elections that play no role in nation building and infrastructure development.

(To be reviewed and continued)