Friday 25 December 2015

WOW!! Marriage on the Indian Ocean

If you are the kind that fear mammy water, this is
not for you. Lol.
The Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Landaa
Giraavaru has just unveiled a fancy new pavilion
for couples to read their vows on.
It’s a little hut with wide open doors and giant
windows, decorated with all-white furnishings and
candles. Oh, and it happens to be in the middle of
the Indian Ocean.
Located 50 metres from the coast, the little house
also has a glass floor, which allows couples and
guests to look directly into the sea below as they
wander around feeling romantic.
Plus, it’s on top of the hotel’s Turtle Rehab
Centre, which cares for injured turtles.
The whole thing is absolutely stunning.
You won’t be able to have a big wedding, as the
venue only allows 16 guests, but it’s definitely
worth it.

From gistmania. Com

ATM DRESS CODE

The identity of the lady in question is not known
but rumours have it that she may be a staff of
the bank and her attire is a form of advertisement
for the financial institution.




From Gistmania. Com

Saturday 19 December 2015

Brundi: Africa Union to deploy peacekeepers

he African Union (AU) has announced a plan to
send 5,000 peacekeepers to protect civilians in
Burundi, even without the government's consent.
The proposal was approved by the AU's Peace
and Security Council but will need to get the
backing of the UN.
On Thursday the AU said it would not allow
genocide to take place in Burundi.
But Burundi said if the AU sent troops with the
government's consent it would consider the move
"an attack" on it.
Government official Philippe Nzobonariba told the
BBC Great Lakes service that the legal process
should be followed, and suggested that a
peacekeeping force would be better employed in
Rwanda.
Burundi has previously accused its neighbour of
training rebels seeking to destabilise the country.
Africa Live: BBC news updates
Is Burundi on the verge of ethnic conflict?
Tit-for-tat killings spread fear
Unrest in Burundi began in April when President
Pierre Nkurunziza announced he would seek a
third term in office. He survived a coup attempt in
May, and secured a third term in disputed
elections in July.
The proposal by the AU marks the first time it
has invoked a rule allowing it to deploy a force
without a country's consent, the BBC's Anne Soy
reports from Nairobi.
The clause in the AU charter allows it to intervene
in a member state because of grave
circumstances, which include war crimes,
genocide and crimes against humanity.
The decision comes amid fears that violence
could spiral into civil war and possible ethnic
conflict.
Diplomatic moves to prevent a civil war in
Burundi have recently accelerated with the UN,
the European Union and the East African
Community fearful of the impact of worsening
violence both on the local population and the
region.
At a special session convened at the US' request
to discuss the conflict, the UN Human Rights
Council resolved to despatch independent
investigators to Burundi to probe abuses.
The government has said there is no threat of
genocide.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid
Ra'ad al-Hussein said on Thursday that " Burundi
is at bursting point, on the very cusp of a civil
war" which could have "ethnic overtones" similar
to past conflicts in Burundi.
At least 400 people have been killed, nearly 3,500
arrested and at least 220,000 people have fled
the country since April, Mr Hussein said.
The worst spate of killings happened last Friday
when 87 people were killed in clashes in the
capital, Bujumbura.
An AU fact-finding mission returned from Burundi
on Sunday and in its preliminary findings it said
"members of the team heard reports of arbitrary
killings, torture and the arbitrary... closure of
some civil society organisations and the media".
Ethnic conflict between Hutus and Tutsis in the
1990s claimed an estimated 300,000 lives.
Mr Nkurunziza is the former leader of a Hutu
rebel group, who has been in power since a 2005
peace deal.
Both the government and the opposition are
ethnically mixed.
Timeline - Burundi crisis
April 2015 - Protests erupt after President
Pierre Nkurunziza announces he will seek a
third term in office.
May 2015 - Constitutional court rules in
favour of Mr Nkurunziza, amid reports of
judges being intimidated. Tens of thousands
flee violence amid protests.
May 2015 - Army officers launch a coup
attempt, which fails.
July 2015 - Elections are held, with Mr
Nkurunziza re-elected. The polls are
disputed, with opposition leader Agathon
Rwasa describing them as "a joke".
November 2015 - Burundi government gives
those opposing President Nkurunziza's third
term five days to surrender their weapons
ahead of a promised crackdown.
November 2015 - UN warns it is less
equipped to deal with violence in Burundi
than it was for the Rwandan genocide.
December 2015 - 87 people killed on one day
as soldiers respond to an attack on military
sites in Bujumbura

Friday 18 December 2015

Shell to face Nigeria oil spill suit

A Dutch judge has ruled that a court in the
Netherlands should hear a case against Royal
Dutch Shell brought by four Nigerian farmers.
The farmers and fishermen want Shell to clean up
oil spills in four villages in the Niger Delta and
pay compensation.
The latest ruling overturns a decision that was
made two years ago by a lower court.
The oil giant said it was disappointed with
decision made by appeals court judge Hans van
der Klooster.
He ruled that Dutch courts had jurisdiction in the
case against Shell and its Nigerian subsidiary.
The court in The Hague will hear the case in
March to determine whether Shell is responsible
for the Nigerian spills.
In January 2013, a lower court rejected the
farmers' case, saying that Shell could not be held
responsible for the pollution in the impoverished
region.
However, judges had ruled that Shell's Nigerian
subsidiary was partly responsible and ordered it
to pay compensation in one claim, but not in the
three other claims.
On Friday, Mr van der Klooster agreed with the
Nigerian farmers' appeal.
"All appeals by Shell are rejected," he said.
The judge also ordered the company to hand over
documents that could show its failure to properly
maintain oil pipelines and prevent sabotage.
Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer and the
world's 13th largest, pumping out more than 2.4
million barrels a day.
Shell's Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum
Development Company of Nigeria, said: "We
believe allegations concerning Nigerian plaintiffs
in dispute with a Nigerian company, over issues
which took place within Nigeria, should be heard
in Nigeria."
Shell has always blamed the leakages on
sabotage, which under Nigerian law would mean
it did not have to pay compensation.
The Dutch court said on Friday it could not be
assumed that the oil leaks were caused by
sabotage.
Friends of the Earth Netherlands, which has
helped the farmers bring their legal action, said:
"The ruling is unique and can pave the way for
victims of environmental pollution and human
rights abuses worldwide to turn to the
Netherlands for legal redress when a Dutch
company is involved."
Shares in Shell rose 1%, or 14p, to £14.64 in
London in late trading.

BBC . Com

NNPC may sack over 1,000 staff in 2016

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr.
Ibe Kachikwu, yesterday, stated that he had
received the Presidency’s approval to commence
the final phase of the restructuring of the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), which
would see the Corporation unbundled into four
components, while about 1,100 of NNPC
headquarters’ staff would be disengaged.
He also stated that the country no longer has the
resources to fund its oil and gas industry, and it
is therefore, considering and developing new
models of financing for the industry in the days
ahead.
Kachikwu, who spoke at a town-hall meeting in
Abuja, yesterday, disclosed that in January 2016,
the final decision on the fate of the country’s
refineries would likely be made. He also stated
that arrangements have been concluded to adopt
a price modulation mechanism that would see the
corporation setting a price ceiling of between N87
and N97 per litre for Premium Motor Spirit, PMS,
also known as petrol.
Kachikwu, who doubles as the Group Managing
Director of NNPC said, “Financing is going to be a
key component of our goal, because new models
of financing would have to emerge. The country
does not have the sort of resources to continue
to fund the oil industry. As we go upstream, we
are going to begin to see a lot of innovative
financing mechanism to provide funding for the oil
industry.”
“My dream, if I achieve it, is that by the end of
2016, we would completely exit cash calls and be
able to find our funds one way to help support
our business and get a lot more autonomy in
terms of running the industry and report,
basically, profit to the Federal Government.”
On the unbundling process, Kachikwu said the
NNPC would be broken into four key components,
namely: the upstream company, downstream
company, the midstream company, which is gas
and power marketing, and the refining group
holding company.
According to him, one of the major restructuring
efforts would be in making the headquarters
operations cost effective, hence, about more than
half of its 2,200 core headquarters staff would be
whittled down, with a lot of the affected staff a
$$igned to the subsidiaries to help make the
units more efficient and profitable.
Kachikwu said, come January 2016, strategic
decisions would be made in terms of what areas
of the country’s refineries would be closed to
allow for full re-kitting before reopening them for
operations, while it would also be considering the
best operating model for the refineries.
“Ultimately, technical support, technical services,
and technical joint venturing would also be
models we would be looking at and reviewing in
terms of the refineries. The whole idea is find the
funds, find the right skills that you need, support
the skills that you have and try to give out, real-
time, above 90 per cent consistent performance in
refining.”
On the issue of fuel subsidy removal and
subsequent hike in the price of PMS (Petrol),
Kachikwu stated that, “One thing we are very
committed to next year, is to reduce the level of
Federal Government subsidy, if any, to the
industry, so that the industry can grow on its own
strength. We can do that without the mechanism
of saying subsidy is being removed or whatever,
but have a benchmark approach to setting prices.
We are going to see a lot more quarterly type
analysis of what prices would go for the
downstream industry, relative to the price of crude
oil,” he stated.
“The report that fuel is going to sell for 97 was
not a correct. I did not say refined products will
sell for N97. I said that between a band of N87
and N97 per litre, we are going to be looking at
prices. Today, the prices are largely close to N87,
so there might be no need to change prices,” he
added.
The minister also disclosed that the Federal
Government was considering allocating a number
of marginal oil fields to the Nigerian Petroleum
Development Company (NPDC), if it performs
creditably, so as to help it increase its crude oil
reserves base.
He also disclosed that a much more focused
audit would be conducted on the operations and
activities of the NPDC, to ascertain its a$$et base
and also determine whether it is increasing or
depleting its reserves.
Speaking on NNPC’s financials, he said: “Most of
the management accounts up to 2014 are fairly
finished; we are now looking at external audits.
Audits were last done in 2010. We have brought
the management accounts up to current; the
external audits are ongoing; the 2012 to 2014
audits we expect would be done by March next
year, which would bring us likely current.”
According to Kachikwu, the focus of the Federal
Government is to get the NNPC back to
profitability to ensure the sustenance of the
company, while it is also targeting an increase of
Nigeria crude oil production to 2.4 million per day
in 2016.
“For upstream there are some key essentials,
average production for most of last year was 2.19
million barrels per day, while we think we ought
to be able to move forward a little bit to 2.4
million barrels in 2016. To do that there are key
things that needs to be looked at.”


From gistmania . Com

Deziani Alison is ALIVE but

She is alive but seems to be receiving cancer treatment.
Former Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani
Alison-Madueke, is not dead, family sources have
said. This is coming shortly after the rumours of
her death went viral online few hours ago.
Something is however not ‘right’ as her family
members are said to now be in a critical meeting
over her health condition, if I am allowed to quote
Sahara Reporters. But she is alive.

From Gistmania . Com pp

Osita Iheme(Paw Paw) completes his Luxury Owerri Hotel

Comic Nollywood actor Osita Iheme started
building a hotel few months back in Imo state
and has successfully completed it. The fortress
has been named ‘The Resident’.
The talented actor popularly called Pawpaw
hosted a couple of friends over the weekend at
the hotel located in Owerri.
The Resident hotel is located on Osita Iheme
crescent in Ala Owerri area of Imo state.