2016 Budget: The showdown continues

President Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari will not sign the 2016 budget bill passed by the National Assembly last week unless lawmakers provide more details of the legislation, a government official said on Tuesday.

The move spells yet another delay of the record N6.06 trillion budget aimed at reviving the country’s economy, hit by a slump in oil prices. Buhari had presented a bill of N6.08 trillion in December before withdrawing it due to an unrealistic oil price assumption and flaws in the draft.

When it was re-presented, the National Assembly reduced it to N6.06 trillion. It was the first time since 1999 that the legislators would approve a figure lower than that proposed by the executive.

The National Assembly had earlier sent on Tuesday the bill – which calls for record spending to boost the economy – to the Presidency but it did not include any details, only highlights.

This makes it difficult for the president to what adjustments were made by the legislators.

“As a result, the president has been unable to sign the bill because he does not know what is contained in the details and what adjustments the National Assembly must have made to the proposal sent to them,” an official, who didn’t want to be named, told Reuters.

Buhari travelled to the USA on Wednesday returning on Sunday, his office said. This makes it unlikely the bill will be signed this week. Meanwhile, Nigerians are suffering because the president had promised to start serious work as soon as the budget it passed.

The new budget, which is based on an oil price of $38 a barrel, aims to recharge the economy by trebling capital spending compared with 2015’s plan.

The budget debated by a joint session of both chambers had left open how it would be financed. Officials previously suggested up to half of the estimated deficit of 3 trillion naira would be funded though the sale of Eurobonds or loans from China and international agencies. But no such deal has publicly emerged.

A deepening crisis slowed gross domestic product growth to 2.8 per cent in 2015, Nigeria’s weakest in decades.

Pele sues Samsung for $30m

Pele

Brazilian soccer legend, Pele has sued South Korean electronics giant Samsung for $30 million for rights infringement.

Pele, 75, who filed the lawsuit against Samsung in the US city of Chicago earlier this month, claimed the electronics group improperly used a lookalike in an advertisement to promote its ultra high-definition TV sets in October last year.

Although the advertisement did not mention Pele by name, it featured a large photograph of an elderly black man who “very closely resembles” him. There was also a smaller picture of a white football player performing a “modified bicycle of scissors-kick, perfected and famously used by Pele”, the complaint said.

Pele, whose full name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento, is considered to be the best player of all time. He played for Brazil's victorious World Cup winning teams of 1958, 1962 and 1970, scoring in the finals of 1958 and 1970.

Pele said Samsung wanted him to endorse their products in 2013 but pulled out of negotiations at the last minute and “never obtained the right to use Pele’s identity in any manner or in any format”.

The advert, he said, will confuse consumers and hurt the value of Pele’s endorsement rights. Since his retirement in the 1970s, the football icon has been relying on endorsements for much of his income. He has deals with several companies such as Volkswagen, Subway, Emirates and Procter & Gamble.

According to Bloomberg Business, Pele earned $25 million from endorsements in 2014, when Brazil hosted the World Cup. His value is likely to rise further this year with the Olympic Games being held in Rio de Janeiro.

The lawsuit was filed by Pele IP Ownership LLC, which owns the Brazilian’s trademark and publicity rights. As well as seeking compensation, his legal team say they also want to prevent future unapproved uses of his image.

Pele's lawyer Frederick Sperling has also represented the legendary basketball player, Michael Jordan. He helped Jordan win $8.9 million in a case against the former Dominick's Finer Foods over an unauthorised use of his identity in an advertisement in Sports Illustrated magazine.

“The goal is to obtain fair compensation for the authorised use of Pele’s identity and to prevent future unauthorised uses,” Sperling said.

Chung Sun-seop, editor of Chaebul.com, a website that analyses South Korean conglomerates, has criticised Samsung for the advert.

“The company is sacrificing big things like its global image for small financial gains,” he said.

Behold the world’s largest film screen

China’s cinema culture has received a massive boost with the development of an extra-large film screen. The screen, manufactured by a Chinese company, measures 100 by 25 metres and weighs 1.6 tonnes.

According to China Daily, the manufacturer, Star Screen Co Ltd, spent two years developing the film screen. The science and technology committee of China’s State Film Administration has recognized it as the world’s largest.

Star Screen, based in east China's Anhui province, overcame several technical difficulties in screen evenness, spraying and transportation.

Some technical specifications of the final product are now better than the national standard, Yang Xuepei, deputy director of the committee said. 

“Take polarization ratio for example: a higher ratio means a better 3D effect, while a substandard screen brings viewers sore eyes and dizziness,” Yang told the state-run Xinhua news agency.

Already, eight orders from cinemas and movie theme parks have been placed for the screen, and the company says it is expecting more orders after the official launch. 
The number of cinemas in China has multiplied in recent times. Over 3,300 new cinemas opened across the country over the past five years, with the number of screens climbing to 31,000, said Lin Minjie, general manager of China Film Equipment Company.

The new screen will be made to fit the China Film Giant Screen (CGS), a large format film system jointly developed by the China Film Company and China Research Institute of Film Science and Technology.

Lin said the CGS, which was launched in 2011, has become one of the fastest- growing high-end digital movie exhibition systems in the world.

"CGS has been exported to the US, India, Indonesia, Thailand and will soon enter the European market including France and Russia," he said. 
In China, 133 of the 350 giant screens have adopted the CGS system. Last year alone, 8,000 new screens were installed nationwide, with 6,700, or 80 per cent of them, produced by Star Screen. 

Official data showed that monthly ticket sales in February reached 6.87 billion yuan, overtaking North America for the first time.  

Why I want Donald Trump to become US President

Donald Trump

The US presidential race has captured the imagination – and disgust – of the whole world due to the excesses of one man – Republican Party candidate Donald J. Trump.

I am not an American citizen so obviously I cannot vote in their upcoming elections, even if I wanted to. If I were eligible, I’d vote for Mrs. Hillary Clinton – who would probably clinch the Democratic Party ticket. But for sinister reasons I would love Donald Trump to win.

Trump’s candidacy has filled the hearts of many people I know with trepidation. The maverick billionaire is a loose cannon and his rambunctious style can turn a friend into a foe in seconds. There is only one person Trump likes – himself.

For a long time we have been saddled with bad leaders in Africa. Some of them have been so bad they became the butt of jokes both at home and abroad. If Trump wins the Republican nomination and goes on to become US President, America will become the butt of jokes. Americans will, for once, know what it means to have a leader who embarrasses them at every turn. Then maybe, just maybe, they will sympathise with those of us from African countries who have had more than our fair share of bad leaders.

It is not our birthright to have bad leaders. Africa, contrary to widely held belief, is not cursed. Our problem is just that somehow people who are not fit to be village heads end up ruling an entire country.

To prove that they are in charge they usually go against the norm. They do things just to prove that they have the power to do it. And woe betide anyone who dares to stand in their way.

Trump has attacked virtually everyone – from war veterans to women, from Blacks to Mexicans, Chinese and Muslims.

Now he is abusing the wife of another candidate. Recent American presidential campaigns have been filled with personal attacks but attacking a candidate’s wife was a new low.

At 69, you’d think this grandfather would know better. Instead he trades barbs with fellow presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz, leaving distaste in the mouth.

Trump, who has a net worth of $4.5 billion, threatened to “spill the beans” on Cruz’s wife Heidi. The next day, the National Enquirer reported that Cruz may have had extramarital affairs.

Trump has denied being the source of the information but it is said that if a witch cries at night and a child dies in the morning, you should know where to look.

Cruz said Trump is a friend of the owner of the tabloid and the report included a comment from Roger Stone, Trump’s former political adviser.

Trump also posted an unflattering picture of Mrs. Cruz on his Twitter page and captioned it, “a picture is worth a thousand words.”

Nothing is off limits for Trump. He has mimicked a disabled journalist, mocked a female broadcaster with a thinly veiled reference to her monthly period, and suggested that former Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina was too ugly to be president.

“Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" he said. Jeezzzz!

This is hitting below the belt. People say he is being real. There is nothing real about talking trash. It is not everything that comes to your mind that you say – especially if your mind is this depraved.
Though people have expressed shock and dismay over Trump’s style, the New York real estate mogul carries on unabated.

If he becomes president, this guy would so humiliate America that Americans abroad may start claiming they come from Canada, just to avoid embarrassing questions. Same way many Nigerians in diaspora claim the citizenship of other nations.

Imagine a man who claims to be a Christian but says he has never had cause to ask God for forgiveness because he believes he has never been wrong. That is so laughable and childish.

Imagine a president who wants to ban Muslims from entering his country. Imagine a president who wants to build a wall between the USA and Mexico – and make the Mexicans pay for it.

A Washington Post columnist, Eugene Robinson, said Trump has no idea what he would confront if he becomes president.

“Donald Trump’s ignorance of government policy, both foreign and domestic, is breathtaking,” he wrote.

Trump is smart. He just tapped into the legitimate anger of Americans and is reaping huge results. But he would create more enemies than friends if he becomes president. He would also be a source of unprecedented embarrassment. For once, I’m glad a front-runner in the US presidential elections is not African. I used to envy America with their intelligent and patriotic leaders. Not anymore. I would not wish Trump to be president of any African country. He is a real embarrassment.

Now the Americans will know how we feel.

Football: Disaster averted in Kaduna stadium

A disaster of monumental proportions was averted at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium Kaduna yesterday when the Super Eagles hosted the Pharaohs of Egypt in an African Cup of Nations qualifier. Over 40,000 people were crammed into the stadium – which has only 25,000 capacity – as the state government threw the gates open for fans to watch free of charge.

The place was filled to the brim. There were people everywhere. Many supporters stood on the athletics tracks to watch the game, while others climbed the scoreboard and even the floodlights!

This kind of scene has never been seen before in any FIFA match played in Nigeria.

The Kaduna State government did well to make fans enter the stadium free of charge but they should have anticipated that the venue would be overcrowded by fans who may never get another opportunity to watch the Super Eagles free of charge. The government should have managed the event properly, ensuring that the gates were closed once the stadium had reached capacity.

How everyone went out of the stadium safely beats my imagination. It is incredible that no casualty was reported during or after the match, which ended 1-1.

Nigerian football fans are known to be highly emotional and extremely volatile. Before the match Mikel Obi had been mobbed by fans after he refused to take a selfie. What if the fans had decided to vent their spleen on the Super Eagles players for allowing Egypt to equalize at the dying seconds of the match? Someone must be made to explain why thousands of extra spectators were allowed into the stadium. This would easily have ended in a serious tragedy. The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) knows how many people have died in stadiums across the world due to poor crowd management. That this would be allowed to happen in Nigeria in 2016 is simply not acceptable.

The Immigration job scam, which claimed the lives of 23 job seekers in Nigeria, is still fresh in our memories. The stampede took place just two years ago in stadiums across the country.

This has also portrayed the country in very negative light and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) would most likely penalize Nigeria for this inexplicable oversight.

In 2001, 127 people died in Accra, Ghana after a stampede. It was one of the worst stadium disasters in Africa. In 2009, the Ivorian FA was fined $47,000 by FIFA, after poor crowd control led to the deaths of 19 people. Nigeria should not be the next case.

Buhari’s Economic Retreat is a waste of N250m public funds – Fayose

Gov Fayose (left), President Buhari

Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State is not relenting on his attack on President Muhammadu Buhari.

In his latest barrage, he described the just-concluded National Economic Council (NEC) retreat as mere jamboree and waste of over N250 million public funds.

According to him, many of his fellow governors were not happy with the economic retreat. He added that some of the resource persons at the event had ruined the economy of their states when they were governors and therefore had nothing to offer.

“What solution can the likes of former Governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi, who as governor plunged the state into unprecedented debt by borrowing money to build governor’s lodge, pavilion and uncompleted civic centre proffer to the economy of Nigeria?” he said Friday in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka.

“The retreat has further exposed that the All Progressives Congress (APC) government of President Muhammadu Buhari lacked economic blueprint as the president is still talking the way he talked while seeking for votes from
Nigerians.

“It is strange that close to one year after President Buhari was sworn in, he still cannot tell Nigerians one major economic step his government has taken to salvage the economy. He has not taken any key step and there is no economic team. That is strange!

“I was at the retreat and I can tell Nigerians categorically that it was just a jamboree. It was a waste of over N250 million public funds because most of the resource persons were the same people who ran their states aground.

“Instead of wasting over N250 million on such a jamboree, it would have been better if the fund is given to those downtrodden Nigerians, who are trading with as little as N5,000.

“For instance, at N10,000 each, N250 million will go round 25,000 pepper sellers whose capital is not more than N5,000 and that would go a long way in boosting their trade.

“Even most governors, including those of the APC were not happy with the economic retreat. Almost everything they proposed was opposed by the governors.

“Also, the president in presenting himself as APC president alone and speaking as if he was still canvassing votes and chose the retreat to tell the 22 states governed by the APC to build 250,000 housing units per annum. The question is which state in the present Nigeria can build 10,000 housing units per year?

“To me, the Federal Government appears not ready to face reality. The economic retreat sounds like another talk shop retreat and a clear indication that APC and President Buhari did not have an economic blueprint even when it took two months after winning election for the president to assume office.”

Fayose has been throwing barbs at Buhari since last year when the latter was campaigning to become president. The onslaught of attacks, which sometimes border on personal insults, has continued unabated even after Buhari was sworn In and from all indications, it will not stop soon.

Presidency denies backing #iStandWithBuhari

President Buhari

The presidency has denied backing #iStandWithBuhari, a political group planning a 9 million man march to declare support for the policies of President Muhammadu Buhari.

In a series of tweets on Friday by @NGRPresident, the official twitter handle of the president, the presidency said, “President Muhammadu Buhari does not believe in premature and ostentatious celebration of his government’s successes.

“The government believes it is too early to be celebrating; it will legitimately do so when the time is ripe.”

The presidency also warned the #iStandWithBuhari group to stop using the name of the President’s wife, Aisha Buhari, to promote its activities.

The group has been facing credibility issues since two of its national coordinators resigned in a space of one month.

OMG! Obama can’t arrange a meeting with Messi for his daughters

 

Messi

Sasha (left) and Malia Obama

The President of the United States is so powerful he can arrange a meeting with anyone, right? Wrong!

Barack Obama, who is in Argentina this week, tried in vain to make his daughters Malia and Sasha meet World Footballer of the Year Lionel Messi. But the president couldn’t pull it off. If Obama cannot arrange a meeting with the Argentinian icon, then who can?

Messi has shown that he is not only skillful at evading the best defenders. He can also elude the most powerful man in the world.

However, Obama’s daughters were able to meet another famous Argentinian, the Pope.

Speaking at the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative Town Hall in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Obama revealed that his daughters, who are passionate Messi fans, had asked him if they could meet the Argentine No. 10.

"I also wanted to bring my daughters here so they could see the beauty and the vibrancy of [Buenos Aires]," Obama said.

"They've already met one famous [Argentinian]—His Holiness Pope Francis. Now they want to meet Messi, but I could not arrange that."

The Barcelona superstar is with the Argentina squad ahead of a friendly in Chile on Thursday. The team then returns home to host Bolivia on Tuesday.

No one should be surprised if Messi’s shirt arrives on the steps of the White House in the near future.

Just last month Murtaza Ahmadi, a five-year-old Afghan boy, was photographed in an improvised Messi shirt made out of a plastic bag. The pictures, which went viral on social media, reached Messi and the superstar responded by sending a signed shirt to the boy through UNICEF. He has also promised to meet his young fan on a later date.

Malia and Sasha Obama can rest assured they will meet their idol sooner or later.