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The Federal Inland Revenue Service has disclosed that it has collected N3.81 trillion in revenue for the Federal Government between January and September end of the current fiscal year. The quantum of revenue generated surpasses the 2012 budget estimate of N3.6 trillion expected for the entire year. FIRS Director of Communications, Emmanuel Obeta said, “With this amount, the FIRS has surpassed the N3.6 trillion provisional annual budget estimate nine months into the year, with oil taxes recording N2.399 trillion and N1.406 trillion for non-oil. “The collection represents increased revenue collection performance of about N890 billion, when compared to the total collection of N2.91 trillion for the same period in 2011.’’ The statement said, “In 2011, the service recorded N955.19 billion tax collection in the first quarter, N985.30 billion in the second quarter and N974.65 billion in the third quarter.” In 2012 thus far, the FIRS said it collected N1.172 trillion in first ...

CHECK YOUR SELF    Washing my mind,cleaning my soul,Clearing myself of doubt,checking myself to see if truly it day.This morning may be the dawn of sorrow,pain,hate, pity,hunger,war,famine to those who's eyes see not beyond his nosestick. Checking if am still left with my common sense. checking to see if those orphan eat last night, not Rubbing their ply begging for every scrub. Closing my sight just to sleep in eternity,wanting to feel the love, joy,happiness,care,pleasure,gratitude that come to heart and fill the empty valley of me mortal soul. Finally washing,clearing,cleaning that which block every good that ought to be done, asking if, what it profit us to see helpless children cloth,feed,care,love. Asking what shall the evil me,me and me alone do for me.Asking what shall it cause us to be even in every. Shall remember my peace is your peace,my Love is your love. And what ever pain i paid for that you shall also partook off. My uncommonsens have lead me here and am w...

The biggest country in Africa that the United Kingdom colonized is Nigeria. The biggest country that the United Kingdom colonized in Asia is India (which then comprised the present Pakistan and Bangladesh). When the UK ca me into Nigeria and India, like all other countries they colonized, they brought along their technology, religion (Christianity), and culture: names, dressing, food, and language, among others. Try as hard as the British did, India rejected the British religion, names, dressing, food, and even language, but they did not reject the British technology. Today, 80.5 per cent of Indians are Hindus; 13.4 per cent Muslims; 2.3 per cent Christians; 1.9 per cent Sikhs; 0.8 per cent Buddhists, among others. Hindi is the official language of the government of India, but English is used extensively in business and administration and has the status of a “subsidiary official language.” Interestingly, it is rare to find an Indian with an English name or d...

To help stave off the cognitive decline of aging, you might want to drop the crossword puzzle and head out for a brisk walk or a bike ride. In a study published in the journal Neurology of almost 700 people born in 1936, researchers found physically active people showed fewer signs of brain shrinkage and other deterioration than those who got less exercise. At the same time, social and intellectual activities such as visiting family and friends, reading, playing intellectually stimulating games or learning a new language did nearly nothing to ward off the symptoms of an aging brain, the study said. "People who exercise more have better brain health," said Alan Gow, one of the study's researchers and a senior research fellow at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. The researchers noted, however, that "the direction of causation is unclear," meaning they couldn't tell if a healthier brain was a result of physical activity, or if people showing signs ...

The main buyers of the 180,000 barrels of oil that thieves steal from Nigeria each day are organised criminal networks in the Balkans and refiners in Singapore, according to a former Presidential adviser, who launched a campaign against the practice on Monday. Mr. Patrick Dele Cole, a politician from the oil-rich Niger Delta, at the heart of Nigeria’s two million barrel a day industry, told Reuters  that 90 per cent of oil snatched was sold on world markets, based on estimates from oil firms and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. Just 10 per cent was being refined locally by gangs operating in the creeks and swamps of the delta, he said. Oil companies say so called bunkering or tapping into oil pipelines to steal the crude, and other forms of oil theft are on the rise in Nigeria, despite an amnesty that was meant to end a conflict there in 2009 over the distribution of oil wealth. Yet while local gangs hacking into pipelines to steal small quantities for local refining ...

Bill Gates Bill Gates might be the most successful college dropout of all time. He only  went to Harvard for two years  before quitting to found Microsoft. In 2007, over 30 years after he dropped out, Harvard granted him an honorary doctorate, not that he needed it since he did just fine without even a BS or BA, but it was a nice gesture!

It could be a horrible experience especially when it’s not planned for but you end up being left in a lurch. Stressful, confusing, and terrifying are words to apply when a partner chooses this time to deny paternity. What do you do? Examine the situation Find out why he is behaving that way. Most men will run away for various reasons but before you vent your frustration on yourself or unborn child, find out why he has behaved irresponsibly. Is he married? Or he lacks the financial capability to cater for a child? Unearthing why he has decided to shy away from his responsibility will go a long way in helping you decide what steps to take next. Accept your situation The world would not come to an end anyway! Some will find that speaking with a counsellor helps. Take as much time as you need in order to come to accept the reality of your situation. Inform affected parties There are, of course, exceptions to this advice especially if you fear that your life or your baby’s...

In the nearly half century between 1900 and 1945 various political leaders and intellectuals from Europe, North America, and Africa met six times to discuss colonial control of Africa and develop strategies for eventual African political liberation. In the article that follows, historian Saheed Adejumobi describes the goals and objectives of these six Pan Afr ican Congresses and assesses their impact on Africa. Pan-Africanist ideals emerged in the late nineteenth century in response to European colonization and exploitation of the African continent. Pan-Africanist philosophy held that slavery and colonialism depended on and encouraged negative, unfounded categorizations of the race, culture, and values of African people. These destructive beliefs in turn gave birth to intensified forms of racism, the likes of which Pan-Africanism sought to eliminate. As a broader political concept, Pan-Africanism’s roots lie in the collective experiences of African descendants in the New World. Afr...

Carnegie Mellon University historian Edda L. Fields Black's 2008 book, Deep Roots: Rice Farmers in West Africa and the African Diaspora, opened a vast new area of diasporic study by linking the cultivation of rice in Africa to the rise of this crucially important food crop in Colonial South Carolina. What follows is a descr iption of her work and the personal journey that led to that scholarly project. I grew up in Miami, Florida immersed in Caribbean and Latin American culture with two Gullah-speaking paternal grandparents. My father’s nuclear family had moved to Miami from Green Pond, South Carolina when he was in elementary school. As a child, I remember being aware of the difference between my grandparents’ accents and the West Indian accents that were so familiar to me in southern Florida. Their speech was akin to West Indian immigrants, of which my mother’s family in particular and Miami in general had many. When I was in grade school, our family began taking my grandmoth...

After much speculation,  The Bachelorette 's ill-fated lovers  Emily Maynard  and  Jef Holm finally confirmed yesterday that they had indeed  split up , officially calling time on their TV-ready relationship. But despite days of playing coy on the status of their coupling, Emily wasted no time in proving just how single she now is, and E! News has exclusively obtained the first shot of the newly unbetrothed Maynard stepping out without her engagement ring. Emily was showing no signs of the breakup blues when she was spotted on a fast-food run in Charlotte, N.C., looking stylish as ever wearing skinny jeans, a leather jacket, a cobalt blue top and black Ray-Ban aviator shades. And while she was minus her engagement ring, she did have one accessory to make up for it: a big old smile The ringless sighting is just the latest confirmation (not like any more was needed) that the once-inseparable couple has gone their separate ways. Their joint announcement ye...

It took until the final moments of the second presidential debate for President Obama to finally bring up what many pundits thought would be a no-brainer for an attack on Romney: the GOP challenger’s behind-closed-doors criticism of “47 percent” of Americans. But judging by the  CBS News insta-poll , it was a wise choice, as first reactions say Obama won the debate 37 percent to Romney’s 30 percent. On the last question of the night, the candidates were asked what the biggest misperception about them is. Romney insisted he want to serve “100 percent” of the people. Obama answered that he doesn’t believe that government creates jobs, saying he believes in self-reliance and risk-takers. The president’s kicker, however, was all about the 47 percent: “I believe when he said behind closed doors that 47 percent of the country considers themselves … think about who he was talking about.”

Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, has backed his literary colleague, Prof. Chinua Achebe, in the raging controversy over the roles of some prominent Nigerians during the Nigerian civil war. Soyinka, in an interview published in The Telegraph of London, but obtained by THISDAY yesterday, said the Igbo were victims of genocide during the three-year civil war, which was fought to break up Nigeria. Achebe had stirred the hornet’s nest in his civil war memoir, “There Was A Country”, when among others, he accused wartime Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon and the then Finance Minister, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, of carrying out a genocide against the Igbo. The claim has generated considerable controversy, with many commentators accusing Achebe of re-writing history. Soyinka, however, justified the secession bid and described Biafrans as “people who’d been abused, who’d undergone genocide, and who felt completely rejected by the rest of the community, and therefore decided to break away...

When an old man died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home in an Australian country town, it was believed that he had nothing left of any value. Later, when the nurses were going through his meager possessions, They found this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital. One nurse took her copy to Melbourne. The old man's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas editions of magazines around the country and appearing in mags for Mental Health. A slide presentation has also been made based on his simple, but eloquent, poem. And this old man, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of this 'anonymous' poem winging across the Internet. Cranky Old Man What do you see nurses? . . .. . .What do you see? What are you thinking .. . when you're looking at me? A cranky old man, . . . . . .not very wise, Uncertain of habit .. . . . . . . .. with far...

Eric Weaver tried logging in to his Twitter account this summer, but he was locked out. A hacker had broken into his account and changed the password. But it didn’t end there. With a little digging, Weaver found that his Twitter handle — @weave — was being sold in an online forum at HackForums.net. With more digging, he also found that software was being sold online to automate the process of quickly hacking dozens of Twitter accounts. “I was surprised this was all happening so openly,” said Weaver, an advertising executive in Seattle. The hackers “are able to operate with seeming impunity.” Weaver’s experience is not unique. Other Twitter hacking victims have also discovered that their accounts are for sale in online forums like ForumKorner.com and HackForums.net, where coveted one-word Twitter handles are sold in bulk for as little as $10. This week, Twitter user Daniel Dennis Jones detailed in a Storify post how his Twitter account – @blanket – was hacked, stolen and put u...