Thursday, 21 January 2016
Food Musings: Why Nigerians Are Crazy About Rice
Food Musings: Why Nigerians Are Crazy About Rice
2 hours ago
1678
Editor’s note: Nigerians don’t
joke with their rice. Whether it be jollof, fried, or white – don’t mess
with a Nigerian’s plate of rice. It’s a must have at parties and to
celebrate religious holidays. Naij.com contributor Ifeyinwa Nzeka tries to explain this special relationship have with rice.
Take a moment to imagine a Nigeria without rice… Yes o! Forget about your favorite party jollof and every other orishirishi style of rice preparation, how would you cope? What would you replace rice with?
Growing up, eating rice was something we looked forward to. I vividly remember what days we had rice: Tuesday dinner, Friday dinner and Sunday lunch, with the rice on Sunday being the most special. Tuesday and Fridays were usually rice and stew.
Many years before a lot of us were born, rice was a luxury, eaten once in a while, but today, it has become staple in most Nigerian households.
In recent times, I don’t believe any other crop has been subjected to as much attention as rice; from the dazzling amount spent by Nigeria for rice imports to the imports cabal to the fraud as it concerned the rice import quota scheme, news which broke in 2015 and then to the quest by the agricultural sector for Nigeria to achieve self-sufficiency in rice production.
READ ALSO: Is African Food The New International Craze?
The Central Bank of Nigeria disclosed in 2014 that Nigeria spent about N800billion yearly on the importation of rice. Unofficial imports routed through Cotonou and other close West African countries corridors were not captured in the figure projected by the bank. The governor of Central Bank, Godwin Emefiele, in 2015, said the Federal Government spent $2.41 billion on rice importation between January 2012 and May 2015. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture also revealed at the time that on the average, Nigeria spent N1billion daily on rice importation. It is hoped that we will hit the self-sufficiency mark in a few short years and be less dependent on imports which will in turn lead to employment and economic growth.
No doubt, the rice matter is both serious business and a serious matter in Nigeria!
With the wide variety of rice delicacies in Nigeria, it isn’t difficult to see why this commodity called rice has got us all loving up. Here is a rundown of some rice dishes that explains why.
Jollof rice/party jollof
Whether it is party jollof rice or homemade jollof rice, you cannot go wrong with jollof, a winner every time for whatever occasion. I think our love for jollof rice is responsible for a large quantity of the importation. Yes o, blame it on jollof! We can talk about jollof rice from now till next year but we wouldn’t bore you because we know you totally “gerrit”! We also know that you get why it is the first on the list!
Native jollof rice
Also called palm oil rice or Iwuk Edesi by the Efiks, this native style jollof rice made with palm oil, crayfish and dry fish and finished with some green vegetable or herb will make you forget your name!
Coconut rice
Is The Don Jazzy Brand Truly Dying? – A Rejoinder To Bayo Omisore
Is The Don Jazzy Brand Truly Dying? – A Rejoinder To Bayo Omisore
olamide and donjazzy rejoinder
Olamide and Don Jazzy, two artistes that started the drama at the Headies 2015.
According to Bayo Omisore’s piece on The NET (which he titled ‘Kill Don Jazzy’), the Don Jazzy brand has served its purpose and should be rested at this point as it no longer appears relevant in the scheme of things.
Read an excerpt of the piece below:
READ ALSO: Aftermath Of The Olamide And Don Jazzy ‘Beef’
“So to start with, I am not a hater. I do not wish any evil on Don Jazzy or Michael Collins. If anything, I can be categorized as an interested onlooker when I want to be passive or an invested businessman active in the Nigerian music industry for the past 18 years.
“Finally, I understand the workings of PR. Hell, I handled the PR of Mo’ Hits in 2006 when the only talent was D’banj. Back then, Wande was a dancer, Dr. Sid (I plead the Fifth) and D’Prince was a model. I do not wish death on Michael Collins. I however think the Don Jazzy brand is dead. Or should be rested. I’ll tell you why.
“Do you remember Don Jazzy? Remember that Soundcity advert. I remember the first day I met D’banj and Don Jazzy. This must have been either late 2004 or sometime in 2005. I had been in the business as a journo for a few years by then so I knew them. We had done a story on Mr. Solek at Hip Hop World in 2003. Jazzy had worked as the keyboardist of the band but he had moved on to music production working under JJC. He was very quiet; never uttered a word. You could have been forgiven for thinking he was mute.
“Do you remember Don Jazzy? Remember that Soundcity advert. I remember the first day I met D’banj and Don Jazzy. This must have been either late 2004 or sometime in 2005. I had been in the business as a journo for a few years by then so I knew them. We had done a story on Mr. Solek at Hip Hop World in 2003. Jazzy had worked as the keyboardist of the band but he had moved on to music production working under JJC. He was very quiet; never uttered a word. You could have been forgiven for thinking he was mute.
“After that, the communication from the Mo’ Hits camp was that Don Jazzy was the boss. He was being driven around town by a university graduate who earns an enviable salary working in an oil company (Fifth). Jazzy didn’t speak in public. He never granted interviews. He asked simply that whatever you wanted to offer to him should be offered to his ‘children’. (Note that he had been calling his artistes his children since the Mo’ Hits days. Nobody questioned it then because this is the Don we’re talking about here.) In fact, once, I was at the crib of one of the Mo’ Hits people, and he told me I had to leave because Jazzy was coming. I was genuinely curious and somewhat impressed. Impressed because they kept the charade going even off-camera. Curious because, well, so could it be it wasn’t a charade after all?
“Remember all those award ceremonies where someone from Mo’ Hits would win an award and spend half the speech time praise-and-worshipping Don Jazzy? Or when Don Jazzy himself would win an award for best production and his wards would mount the stage to receive on his behalf even while he was seated in the front row in the same building. Guys, let’s be honest, these are the images of Don Jazzy that made him the brand he is today. Those days when he only worked with his Mo’ Hits people and a literal handful of associates.
Mysterious Fault Downs Reaper Drones
Mysterious Fault Downs Reaper Drones
Freedom of Information documents show faults caused 20 Reaper drones to be destroyed or suffer severe damage in the last year.
10:53, UK,
Thursday 21
January 2016
The US Air Force's Reaper drone has been hit by problems
The US Air Force's flagship Reaper drone is plagued by a mysterious technical fault which causes the craft to fall out of the sky, a report says.
An investigation by the Washington Post found that the unmanned drone - which conducts surveillance and airstrikes against Islamic State - has been hit with a number of technical problems.
It said that electrical faults have caused 20 Reaper drones to be destroyed or to suffer at least $2m (£1.4m) in damage in the last year - the worst annual toll ever.
Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show that investigations have traced the problem to a faulty starter-generator, but cannot work out why it keeps failing.
Since 2001, more than 400 large US military drones have crashed.
Video:
The Post said: "Military drones have slammed into homes, farms, runways, highways, waterways and, in one case, an Air Force C-130 Hercules transport plane in midair.
"No one has died in a drone accident, but the documents show that many catastrophes have been narrowly averted, often by a few feet, or a few seconds, or pure luck."
In one incident, documents obtained show that a $3.8m (£2.6m) Predator drone crashed near Kandahar because the pilot did not realise she had been flying the aircraft upside down.
Another crashed because the pilot pressed the wrong button on his joystick.
Video:
No-one has died in a drone incident, but errors have resulted in a number of near-misses.
The drones are manufactured in the US but are also used by the Royal Air Force and the Italian Air Force.
RAF Reaper drones are being used for surveillance and airstrikes against IS targets in Syria and Iraq.
Operators control the drones using computers on the ground
autocratic
Autocratic describes a way of ruling, but not in a nice way. An autocratic leader is one who rules with an iron fist; in other words — someone with the behavior of a dictator.
Autocratic rulers don't tend to be popular. They use
fear and control to gain total power over their people. Often, their
country is left destitute as a result of their actions. The word autocratic
is often used to describe the head of a country, but really, anyone who
is a despotic leader can qualify — including the boss who threatens to
fire you if you refuse to polish his shoes and work every holiday.
political Hierarchy of Nigeria
The current political system and political hierarchy in Nigeria is still inflicted with certain problems which may lead to political unrest. As per the constitution the political hierarchy in Nigeria must be bound together by a federal arrangement that includes different levels of government. The political hierarchy of Nigeria can be viewed as a presidential government system with various levels of vertical &horizontal hierarchy and different branches at each level.
Political Hierarchy of Nigeria
On the top of the political hierarchy of Nigeria lies the federal government and if we look at the political setting of current day, this Federal Government is in charge of running the country as per the constitution highlighted system.
The Federal government gets subdivided into three branches at the next level of hierarchy – The Executive branch, the Legislative Branch and the Judicial branch.
- Executive Branch
- Legislative Branch
The Senate is headed by a Senate President and it is the national assembly’s upper house for the framing & formations of laws &bills. The House of representatives is headed by the Speaker of the house and it is the national assembly’s lower house. The Speaker of the house is assisted by the Deputy Speaker of the House.
- Judicial Branch
State Government
After the Federal government, the next level in the political hierarchy of Nigeria is acquired by the state government. The state government also functions as the federal government in many respects like it is also subdivided into three branches – Executive branch, Legislative branch and the Judicial branch.
The executive branch is headed by the governor of the state while in the legislative branch state laws are formed & analyzed through the state house of representatives.
Cabinet
This is the third level in the hierarchy. The cabinet can be considered as the group of ministers where each minister is appointed to manage, oversee and head a specialized area of the country. It exists at both the levels – State & National level. For example – Agriculture, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Education, Aviation etc.
Friday, 15 January 2016
Presidency responds to “Lost” 2016 Budget Mystery & Confusion
Presidency responds to “Lost” 2016 Budget Mystery & Confusion
Various news reports have confirmed that the 2016 budget is missing.
Premium Times says
“the hard and soft copies of the 2016 budget documents President Muhammadu Buhari handed over to the National Assembly on December 22, 2015, have been declared missing.
The Nigerian Senate was scheduled to commence deliberation on the proposed budget Tuesday (today).
But Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, shocked lawmakers at a closed-door session, when he told them the budget documents had been stolen”
Responding to enquiries about the missing budget, the Presidency has said;
Nobody except the President can withdraw the budget. As far as we know, he hasn’t done that.
The copies in their hundreds have been delivered to both chambers of the National Assembly.
By tradition, once the budget is submitted, it ceases to be our property.
Enquiries as to where it is should be directed to the appropriate quarters.
Best regards.
Basically the Presidency is passing responsibility for this situation to the Senate.
SHOCKING: 2016 budget documents stolen from National Assembly
SHOCKING: 2016 budget documents stolen from National Assembly
The Nigerian Senate was scheduled to commence deliberation on the proposed budget Tuesday (today).
But Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, shocked lawmakers at a closed-door session, when he told them the budget documents had been stolen, people familiar with the matter told PREMIUM TIMES.
Mr. Ndume, our sources said, explained that deliberation on the budget could therefore not begin until fresh copies of the documents were obtained from the presidency, the Ministry of Finance or that of national planning.
The Chairman, Senate Committee of Appropriation, Danjuma Goje, was subsequently mandated to lead a search for the documents and liaise with the presidency, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Ita Enang, and the national planning ministry on the matter.
The Senators also resolved that the matter be kept under wraps, saying making it public could embarrass the presidency, the National Assembly and the country.
Our sources said senators of the Peoples Democratic Party accused the presidency of being behind the theft of the documents, an accusation rejected by their All Progressives Congress’ counterparts, who reportedly said it was too early to speculate.
“Can you imagine this kind of national embarrassment?” one senator asked. “Documents that were presented to us with fanfare have been stolen.”
The spokesperson for the senate, Aliyu Abdullahi,could not been reached for comments. So also is Mr. Goje, the chairman of the appropriation committee.
President Buhari had on December 22,2015 presented a N6.08 trillion budget for the fiscal year 2016 to a joint session of the National Assembly.
It was the first time in three years a Nigerian President would personally present a budget before the National Assembly.
Copies were however not distributed to lawmakers before they proceeded on Christmas and New Year holidays.
But weeks after the budget was presented to lawmakers, there were speculations that Mr. Buhari had withdrawn the documents to enable him to correct some discrepancies, a claim the presidency and the national planning ministry denied.
In the budget, capital expenditure takes N1.8 trillion, marking a significant over 300 per cent increment from the 2015 vote of N557 billion.
According to the estimate, N396billion is voted for education, being the largest sectoral allocation.
The health sector gets N296 billion while defence has N294 billion.
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