Misconception of Yoga and Meditation

Everybody in this world is craving for happiness and peace but out of reach. Layers of life journey take people to unexpected different world. In pursuit of truth, people choose to experience yoga-meditation classes as this the royal road to spirituality. Disconnection with the Almighty Creator, living against the law of nature and unknown about the self are the main cause of all the sufferings. Knowledge is light that can efface fear, ego, lust and anger. All know “Health is Happiness” but very few know that healthy mind-body and soul (the three entities) is sine-qua-non for happiness and peace. Only by yogic life- a well civilized society can be thought for caring, sharing and growing together with love and light.

MEANING OF YOGA:  Yoga is a pure Sanskrit / Nepali word meaning ‘to add’ or ‘to connect’ with the supreme divine soul. Till today the word Yoga is used in mathematical term in Nepal and all the terminology of Yoga belongs to Nepali language. Yoga is the journey from the self- through the self and to the self. Flowing with the law of nature, accepting whatever the situation pain or pleasure – is Yoga. Indeed, living in now- connecting the divine energy and performing Dharma (duties) with utmost sincerity is yoga as per the teachings is Vedas.

WHY YOGA?  Yoga is the only royal road to the divine source- supreme consciousness.  It is meant for a well-disciplined, happy- healthy- peaceful life. It enhances spiritual growth balancing material and spiritual life. Yoga is the only key for happiness and peace.

ORIGIN OF YOGA: Shiva Samita says that Guru Gorakshanath (awakened consciousness of Lord Shiva) taught Hatha Yoga to human beings for the first time in order to be connected and live a well disciplined and healthy life. Pious land of Nepal is the origin place of Tantra-Yoga and Meditation. Yogi Patanjali, born in Bhojpur district of Nepal 1500 BC and the compiler of Patanjali Yoga Sutra, is considered as the father of modern Yoga. Long later, Hindus of India came to Ruru Kshetra of Nepal (the original Rishikesh – birth place of Bhagawan Rishikesh) in order to learn Vedic culture and practiced yoga. Therefore, it is ridiculous that western world could not go beyond Indus valley civilization (Hindus of India-just 3500 yrs ago) whereas yoga has a written history of 12,000 years in Nepal. Recent archaeological findings in ancient caves of Mustang-Nepal disclosed by national geography, BBC, Elite-readers say that meditation was in practice 9,000 yrs before Hindus of India. However, we believe this practice is much older as Yoga-Meditation is one of the chapters of the 4^th Veda- Atharvaveda.

THE VEDAS (book of knowledge) is the father of all the literature and scientific discoveries. Veda Vyasa, born in Damauli –Nepal is the compiler of ‘The Four Vedas’.  Creation of universe & nature, Astronomy, Astrology, Art, Music, Literature, Philosophy, Business, Ayurveda, Tantra- Yoga- Meditation and all the scientific discoveries has been described in Vedas. Hindus dwelling in Indus Valley civilization were the same Aryans migrated from the Himalayas of Nepal practicing same culture and traditions.

GREATER NEPAL had spread half of today’s India including Kashmir, Delhi, Agra, Calcutta, Eastern Sikkim, some part of Tibet including Holy Mt. Kailash (Manasarowar Lake). We have crystal clear evidence stamped from both side governments just 80 yrs ago.  The name ‘India’ was given by the British ruler. Long before, it was Hindustan and called ‘Bharat’ because great emperor of Nepal called Bharat had ruled the whole Indian continent. Still his Kingdom Bharatpur lies in Narayanghat district of Nepal. So, the name of India “Bharat” itself inherits from great King Bharat.

LIMBS OF YOGA: There are 8 limbs of yoga- Yama (self restrain), Niyama (scriptural rules), Asana (sitting posture), Pranayama (breathing exercise), Pratyahara (with-drawl of senses), Dharna (concentration), Dhyana (meditation) and Samadhi (salvation) as taught in Goraksha-Samhita. It cannot be called yoga if not followed all the eight limbs. Stretching body parts only do not make a Yogi. Otherwise, acrobats, athlete, swimmers, football players would be a yogi.

TYPES OF YOGA: Gyana Yoga (knowledge), Bhakti Yoga (devotion), Karma Yoga (selfless duty), Raja Yoga (purity), Mantra Yoga (Uttering powerful- Sanskrit words /mantras), Tantra Yoga (channelizing body energy), Hatha Yoga (activating male and female Nadis) are the types of yoga. Not to be confused by 1080 types of yoga styles named by Indians and Europeans.  May you understand that yoga is just Yoga- like we call water for water. Do we say Nepali water or British water or American water? – No! Therefore, adjectives should not be kept before the word yoga. Hatha Yoga is the father of all the yoga styles. If they inhale- exhale from other holes than it can be named with different names but if they do pranayamas through nostrils stimulating Pingala (Ha) and Ida (Tha) nadis; then it is Hatha Yoga.

BIG MISCOCEPTIONS:   

• It is a big misconception among yoga practitioners that they say Guru or Baba to any humans with long beard and ashes in forehead. He can be your spiritual guide, master, teacher only. Guru is the Sanskrit word meaning ‘The Divine Light’ that erases darkness/ignorance. Guru and Baba are the holy word to be uttered while expressing love to Almighty Guru Gorakshanath, (Go=Universe and Rakh= care taker) the creator of the universe and nature.
• Do you say doctorni to female doctor or engineerni to female engineer? No – ! So, why to say Yogini to female yogi. It is a human post / status received automatically when someone is well-cultured, disciplined, connected with the divine source and who lives in now and for others happiness.
• People have wrong concept as if stretching body is yoga. Moreover, using mats do not let us to recharge our body energy with the mother earth. Scientists have discovered’ the energy called Ions” that we can enhance health condition if we walk barefoot daily. This knowledge was already described in Vedas Verses as our body is full of electromagnetic currents and walking barefoot helps us in discharging and recharging earth’ geo-magnetic currents in our body.
• A yogi must follow the 5 code of moral ethics. No cheating, no telling lie, no gambling, no killings, no illicit love/sex, no wine-alcohol, tobacco, meat products are not allowed for yogis who really wish to move in the peace path.

Source: TUSHITA-NEPAL YOGA RETREATS  www.tushitanepal.com

Buhari’s endless returns

By Obi Nwakanma

It is a peculiarly Nigerian thing to be governed from the capital of another foreign nation. The implication of this startling fact seems also generally lost to Nigerians. Nigeria has always defied logic. Perhaps it is not the public we should be worried about; perhaps there is no public worth its name – a national public consciousness demands an enlightened citizenship – perhaps it is just simply the level or lack thereof, of a general political consciousness, but the means of public enlightenment is fraught with its own profound contradictions.

Perhaps it is just simply that Nigerians no longer care about the nature of their own nation and sovereignty. Nigeria has been so battered, its public and political institutions so totally corrupted and bastardized that political action and political morality is no longer necessary in measuring the status of its nationhood. What is Nigeria? Nigeria is a sick nation stuck between its neocolonial status and its predatory condition? There is proof everywhere that Nigeria no longer belongs to Nigerians. That decisions about what to do with Nigeria is not taken inside Nigeria, nor does it depend on Nigerians.

Nigeria, since the end of military rule, has become effectively an effective neocolonial satellite nation, whose very existence is determined by forces outside of it. Power in Nigeria does not lie, nor is it given or indemnified by the people and for the people. Every so often of course, Nigerians pretend to elect a government in this sham democracy. But in actual fact, it is all for show. The people do not count. No one listens to Nigerians.

Those who occupy public offices in Nigeria have absolutely no respect for Nigerian people. They are not afraid of Nigerians because they suffer no consequence for their conducts. Nigerians themselves are far too benighted to do anything about the utter disdain with which these people whom the purport to elect to public office hold them. But rather than fight together, Nigerians are busy fighting themselves.

The long use of Machiavellian tactics and its politics of divisions has blinded Nigerians against their real adversaries, and their true obligations, which is to protect their national interests by seeking, and building common grounds, in order to find reprieve from these elite interests that strangle the land and its people; to insist on being governed by law and on the very principle of equality and justice agreed upon by the constitution; and to exact by common public action, the sanctions of law, where the courts fail. There has to be consequence for breaking the laws, and this must be irrespective of the office one occupies; their ethnicity; their gender or their social status. Nigerians must stop venerating these public offices, and creating personality cults of public office holders whose toilet habits are as primal as those of any regular Mgbeke or Mgbeafor. What is important is not who occupies these public offices, but the dignity, responsibility and significance of the office.

Devaluation of the office of the president of Nigeria as Buhari has just very publicly done must carry consequence irrespective of who occupies that office. While Nigerians suffer economic hardships and deprivations, loss of social status and cohesion, and insecurity, elected politicians continue to act with impunity, and with profound insensitivity against the public interest. It should for instance disgust any self-conscious, self-respecting, and law-abiding Nigerian to see the almost gushing reports in the Nigerian press about members of the APC and later seven elected Nigerian governors going on the junket to London, to visit Nigeria’s sick president, Muhammadu Buhari, who has abandoned his office for close to 90 days of sick leave.

These governors traveled, not on their own personal accounts, but on the public’s account, to London. Why should the Nigerian tax-payer pay for gubernatorial joyrides to the capital of a foreign nation, purportedly to visit an elected president in self-exile? It is action without legal mandate. This is the real meaning of corruption, and this must be emphasized again and again, that misuse of state power is corruption; the abdication of the responsibility of public office, outside of the recourse of given law is corruption. The Nigerian constitution established the seat of the government of Nigeria at its federal capital, Abuja, not in London. As a matter of fact, just a generation ago, people died in Iva valley, Zikists were jailed, Nationalist agitators were hounded, and a full nationalist movement pushed to bring the government of Nigeria home to people and to decolonize Nigeria, so that Nigerians will govern themselves by themselves from their own capital.

To move the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to London is a tragic, and problematic action. Okay, the elected president is sick. But he chose to leave all the doctors trained in Nigeria at great public expense; all the fine hospitals he and all those who had ruled Nigeria heretofore established in Nigeria, and all the facilities created in this country which ought to carter to the health of a sick president, to go to London, and be treated at public expense by doctors trained by the English people, and at facilities established by the government of the United Kingdom. The president has no business staying in London up to this point. Nigerians do not deserve to be treated with disregard, and to this circus of condolences, and visitations, and pilgrimages to an ailing president ensconced by a fireside in an English manor, when he should be either under hospice care in Abuja, or in his home in Daura, and this for two reasons: to protect the integrity of the office of the president, and to secure the dignity of Nigeria as a sovereign nation.

Nigeria is the only nation in the world which can allow her president to establish an extended stay in a foreign hospital, and still remain in office. That is why many Africans now think of Nigeria as a giant dollop of excreta, unworthy even of continental leadership. No serious minded African takes her seriously. If you conduct a vote today for which African nation to sit on the UN Security council, African nations will vote Zimbabwe, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Senegal, Egypt, Ethiopia, Algeria, Sudan, over Nigeria. The reduction of the significance of Nigeria affects Nigerians in very important ways in international circles, where Nigeria is currently seen primarily as a “lap dog of empire” and also as a nation of very inferior leadership, many of whom, beyond publicly dressing like masquerades, have nothing else to offer. But far more grievous is that Nigerians themselves do not even believe or trust their own government which lies to them over and over again.

This visit of the seven governors with Buhari in London is the latest ploy to convince Nigerians that their president is recovering, all fit and humming, and ready to return to work. Buhari’s return has entered its own stage of mythology. It is a return that does not happen. It is now like the story of the Niger Bridge, and the killing of the Boko Haram’s Abubakar Shekau. As Nigerians now know, every year for the last ten years at least, the same contract is awarded for building the same second Niger bridge, and after every tepid operation in the Shangisha forest, the Nigerian Army often returns with the same elated news of the killing of Shekau, except that the second Niger Bridge never gets built, and Shekau never dies, is still alive, and appears regularly to taunt Nigerians. Still, that does not stop the fib-makers.

President Buhari’s “return” has now taken the same course. It has become its own industry, with people taking bets about wither, whence, or wherefore of the president’s endless return. This president is not returning anytime soon. And even if he does, he will be clearly unfit to occupy the office of President. As it is, he is already potentially compromised: a man owes loyalty to those in whose hands lies his life. President Buhari no longer owes absolute loyalty to Nigeria, and has become too vulnerable to carry on his duties as president. Let us put a stop to this tomfoolery: history beckons this 8th Assembly to do its duty: it must establish a board to establish the status and mental condition of this president, and must cashier President Buhari forthwith.

The man has a right to go home and take care of his health. Nigeria is far too complex, and too unstable to be left then way it is now. The lies about the President returning “soon” should be made to stop, and the presidency should stop insulting Nigerians with half-truths about the president’s situation.

“World’s most useless airport” continues to “operate” at British taxpayers’ expense

Saint Helena Airport

The UK government continues to operate an international airport at taxpayers’ expense even though it has not received a single scheduled flight in the year since it opened. 

Located on a small island in the Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Africa, Saint Helena Airport was built in May 2016 to act as a lifeline between the island’s inhabitants and the world.

As the island of Saint Helena is a British Overseas Territory, its construction was financed by Her Majesty’s Treasury.

The cost of the project was a staggering £285 million (US$370 million), as the airport was built to accommodate such large aircraft as the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320, despite the island’s population being just over 4,000 people.

The expense seems to be even less justifiable when considering the facility’s unofficial nickname: ‘The world’s most useless airport.’ It has not operated a regular scheduled service since it was built.

Safety concerns over the small runway caused severe delays in construction and the royal opening in May 2016 was canceled when a test flight revealed that strong windshear – sharp changes in wind speed and direction – made landings of civilian aircraft unsafe.

As a result, the planned British Airways service from Johannesburg, South Africa, was canceled and the ocean liner the ‘RMS St Helena’ was brought out of retirement to ensure that the sea link to the island would continue.

However, chief executive for economic development of enterprise on Saint Helena, Niall O’Keeffe, insists on the importance of the airport to the financial development of the island.

“Scheduled air services are what is needed to build a sustainable tourism industry on Saint Helena,” he said, according to the Independent.

“As a remote small island developing state, the onset of air services is crucial to enable the development of a sustainable economy in the long-term.

“The opportunities for tourism and investment as the island opens up as the newest air destination in the world cannot be overstated.”

Recently, the island’s government announced that Airlink, a South African company, would run a connecting service from Johannesburg to Saint Helena via Windhoek, Namibia, each Saturday.

However, this would entail even further expense to the British taxpayer, as the UK government will co-finance the operation of the flights, paying up to £1.9 million in the first year of the service.

Ethiopia to give ID cards to Rastafarians long stateless

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Ethiopia will issue national identity cards for the nearly 1,000 Rastafarians who long have been seen as stateless in the East African nation, the government announced Thursday. The decision means they can enter without visas and live without residence permits. The move also affects Ethiopian Jews and foreign nationals who have made positive contributions to the country. “These individuals have long been unable to enter and leave the country easily,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Meles Alem told The Associated Press. “In the case of Rastafarians, we have three generations of people residing here that have blended well with our citizens. But sadly they were neither Caribbean

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Boko Haram attack on Nigeria oil team killed over 50

Details emerging from Tuesday's ambush in northeast Nigeria suggest the death toll is higher than initially reported. More than 50 people were killed in a Boko Haram ambush on an oil exploration team in northeast Nigeria earlier this week, multiple sources told AFP news agency on Thursday, warning the death toll could rise. Tuesday's attack in the Magumeri area of Borno state on a convoy of specialists from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was the group's deadliest in months. It underscored the persistent threat posed by Boko Haram fighters, despite government claims they are a spent force, and also the risks associated with the hunt for crude in the volatile Lake Chad basin.

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15.3 million tourists, 2.7 million residents : A new trend for Dubai

15.3 million tourists for a city with 2.7 million people. This is Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. So far in 2017 Destination Dubai has an increase of 11 per cent in international tourism arrival. From January to March Dubai received 4.57 million visitors, double from the number booked the year befofe.

New official data published by Dubai Economy has projected that the local tourism is expected to grow five per cent and 5.1 per cent in 2017 and 2018, respectively. The emirate expects to receive 20 million tourists by 2020 while Expo 2020 event is likely to see 25 million visitors during the event.

A recent report produced by finance body ICAEW and Oxford Economics claimed that the UAE economy is benefitting from the growth in tourism sector at a better rate than other Gulf economies. According to On The Go Tours data, Paris tops with 2.2 million population receiving 18 million visitors which is an increase of 704 per cent followed by Kuala Lumpur with 1.7 million residents welcoming 12 million tourists, an increase of 595 per cent.

Among the other cities which receive more foreign tourists than the population of the city in terms of higher percentage are Milan, Barcelona, Prague, Vienna, Amsterdam, Taipei, Osaka, Bangkok, Rome, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, Istanbul, New York and Shanghai, the data showed.

Egyptian Wounds impend on Italy: Rome emergencies damaging tourism

The shortage of water supply which Rome and its province are experiencing, the daily escalation of arson that destroys thousands of hectares of woods from Rome to Calabria and the major islands: Sicily and Sardinia, are now known world news.

What in the eyes of the world could be thought to be a natural calamity, hides man’s hands. This situation seems to reflect exactly God’s punishment that plagued Egypt because of the captivity of the Israelites, as described in the Bible.

Four out of the Ten Egyptian Wounds face facts to come close to the Italian reality:

Going through the description of each of the Ten Wounds, it is believed that four of them are matching with what has been happening in Italy for some time.

Plague number two: Invasion of frogs by water

This punishment imposed on Egypt reflects the human invasion of thousands of migrants that from African countries look for shelter in Italy, as a first landing point, in search of the solution to their survival by venturing on crumbling navigation means paying a price at times higher than the intrinsic price: Life! Behind this exodus, there is a business run by unscrupulous people both at the origin and at the landing.

Plague number one: Blood – as a symbol of fire and heat

“The waters of the Nile River became red blood, unfit, the world warms up creating famine and death of humans and animals. Blood, the symbol of fire and heat, world drought.

Italy lives at present a dramatic moment due to the scarcity of water that penalizes the agriculture and the survival of animals. To date, twelve Italian regions (out of 21) have declared to the central government a state of national emergency. Citizens of Rome and its province are asked to undergo restrictive measures of water supply at a turn.

Natural disaster? It may be, in part! For the rest, it is due to a bad management of public the affairs by the rulers of the Rome city and of its headquarters, the region. In legal terms, they should: “Manage the public affairs as a father would manage his family budget.” It is well known that in Rome over 44 percent of precious water is dispersed in its path from source to consumer areas. The cause being: Pipes reduced to tubes due to lack of maintenance.

Rome is known for the carelessness of its city mayors who have ruled the city over the years. They have never paid attention to the water leakage at various points of the city streets, not to mention the occult losses absorbed by the ground along the underground pipeline routes.

The water emergency impending on Rome city and its provinces will include public services such as hospitals and hotels with the consequent damage to health and tourism. The ordinance of limiting consumption has led to the closure of hundreds of Rome streets public drinking water fountains, historically known as “nasoni” (big noses, due to the shape of their water flow pipe) and public fountains, masterpieces wanted by early days’ popes. In keeping with the authority provisions, the Vatican also closed its fountains in St. Peter’s Square and in the interior of the citadel.

Rome city authorities, called by the Mayor Ms. Raggi (thumbs down by the citizens also for her serious impeachments) to discuss solutions, attribute responsibilities to the past rulers and seek solutions from ACEA, (the Rome company in charge of water and electricity supply) whose management disagree with the drastic decision of water rationing, despite the Lake of Bracciano (the water supplier) keeps drying up.

Plague number seven: Rain of fire and ice

The climate, especially from the center to southern Italy remains hot from sunrise to sunset, destroys crops of all kinds, leading to a climate of famine and awe to the import of agricultural products, resulting in higher prices (already rising), burning thousands of hectares of woods, again, by the hand of man.

The severe droughts promote crime seekers of grounds for new buildings, as widely reported by daily chronicles. While we accept events that can be attributed to nature, we observe the phenomena that occur in the summer: northern Italy and in some seashore areas are hit by hailstones recalling the winter snowfall. No, it is not bizarre nature. Again, it is the hand of the man who has abused over time and refuses to act to save the future.

We cannot miss Plague number four: wild beasts

Under this heading it is emphasized: Terrorism, fundamentalism, factors that have developed from specific geographic areas of the globe with the goal of conquering and subjugating the world to new regimes and lifestyles. Mafia (included in the number 4 Plague), bullying, and shaming on the weakness of the human being, widespread in the world, it lives also with us in Italy. It has always been, and without any doubt, involves a large part of politicians placed on the armchair by ourselves. The list of public mischiefs which often include the public rulers are presented daily by the media, an info-service like the weather forecast or horoscope directory!

Source of some Bible quotes are from: La Cabala

Uganda to Implement Bus Rapid Transit to Decongest Kampala

Publication: allAfrica

Photo: The CitizenUgandan State Minister for Transport Aggrey Bagaiire praised the Dar es Salaam Bus Rapid Transit (file photo).

Dar es Salaam — Ugandan State Minister for Transport Aggrey Bagaiire on Saturady announced that his government will implement the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) concept in order to decongest the jam-prone City of Kampala.

Mr Bagiire made the announcement after visiting the Dar es Salaam Rapid Transport (DART) project, which has largely improved transport services in the Tanzania commercial capital.

“I have seen how this project works and I am very impressed. It is not the question of whether we are going to think about it, we are going to implement it immediately,” said Minister Bagiire.

The Minister took time to visit the project after successfully concluding the signing of the MOU with Tanzania government on improvement of railway and inland waterways transport route from Dar es Salaam Port to Kampala via Mwanza Port.

The Minister with his delegation got a glimpse of how the transport service work buy boarding one of the buss and cruise from Ferry bus terminal to Morocco terminal. He was accompanied by Tanzania Permanent Secretary for Transport Dr Leonard Chamriho and other high-ranking officials.

China’s “Mars Village” will double as tourist attraction

China’s Qinghai province will host the country’s first Mars simulation site

China’s sparsely-populated Qinghai province will host the country’s first Mars simulation site, which will serve as both a tourist attraction and a facility for experiments needed for exploration of the Red Planet, Chinese media reported. 

An agreement to build a “Mars village” in the province’s Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan autonomous Prefecture was signed on Tuesday, China News Service reported. The region is part of the vast Tibet Plateau, with a desert occupying three-fourths of the entire province, which is located in the northwest of China. The product of thousands of years of wind erosion, the desert and its arid conditions are close to those on Mars.

The planned village would have two sites, a “Mars community” and a “Mars camp”, according to Liu Xiaoqun, an official involved in space exploration at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The local authorities hope that it will boost tourism in the region in addition to serving scientific research.

China is one of several nations with ambitions for extensive exploration of the solar system. Its first independent Mars landing mission is scheduled for 2020, with missions to the moon and other less-explored bodies also in the pipeline.

Other countries use desolate regions to conduct experiments on surviving in hostile Martian conditions. NASA last year successfully finished a year-long survival mission in a mock Mars colony located in Hawaii. A similar experiment in the Utah desert lasted for 80 days.

Russia hosted an isolation experiment called “Mars 500” which lasted over 500 days – the estimated time needed for a spaceship to fly from Earth to Mars. The international crew included a Chinese scientist.

Katsina residents travel for an hour to access health facilities – Commissioner

The Katsina State Commissioner for health, Mrs Mariatu Bala Usman has disclosed that people travel for an hour to access health facilities in the state.

She gave this disclosure at an interactive meeting with the Senate Committee on Foreign Loans and Local debts in Abuja, saying that the situation had led to 180 child mortality rate every month.

She noted that past administrations did not do well across the state, a situation she explained, led to the collapsed of health care system.

“We have 24 local governments in Katsina state and past administrations did not judiciously apply part of loans they borrowed in the health care sector”, she said.

Katsina state Commissioner for Finance, Alhaji Mukhtar Abdulkadir told the Committee that part of the World Bank loan of 110 million dollars which the state seeks to borrow would be channeled into health sector.

In response to inquiries about the state’s debt profile, he disclosed that the current government inherited 74 million dollars the state owed foreign agencies, while N24 billion was domestic debt.

He said they were servicing the loan with N316 million monthly, while about N6 billion has been saved from the last Paris Club loan.

“Our internally generated revenue stands at N510 million monthly, while we are able to pay debts of N316 million monthly; we have so far saved N6 billion from the last Paris Club loan”, the Commissioner noted.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Shehu San has asked northern States to look outside the box in growing their internally generated revenues, adding that if revenues were improved at the state level, it would lessen agitations.

“It is high time northern States woke up in icreasing their IGR so that agitations being experienced in some States would be none existent if Internally Generated Revenues are improved upon and States depend less on allocations shared in Abuja monthly”‎, he said.

He also expressed concerns that some states in the country had obtained loans and were doing little or nothing to offset such loans.

“We need to sit up in terms of knowing that there is a cloud gathering in the sky, the agitations going on in some states should tell us that we need to brace ourselves to what is ahead.

“If we reach the point where IGR of some state gets to one billion, most of these issues will disappear; it is unhealthy for some states to depend on what comes from Abuja”, he added.‎

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Ethiopia: Govt Committed to Transform Tourism

AFRICA:

By Yared Gebremeden

The Ethiopian Tourism Organization (ETO) said it is committed to transform the tourism sector through creating massive investment opportunities for developers and exploiting the untapped tourism potential of the country.

Ethiopian Tourism Organization Public and International Relations Director Getnet Yigzaw told The Ethiopian Herald that the Organization is endeavoring to attract and engage investors in the development of hotels and tourism industries in tourist destination sites.

Emphasizing that attractive investment package is arranged for investors who are interested to commence business in parks like the Semien Mountain National Parks, he added “Investors from Saudi Arabia and Israel are now showing interest to invest in the country in this regard”

The involvement of potential investors in the tourism sector would generate considerable benefits to the country and step up its economic growth. Getnet emphasized adding, the availed attractive incentives packages include grace period.

Accordingly, the nation has set a scheme to boost its tourism revenue and increase sector’s share to its Growth Domestic Product (GDP) through utilizing more from its longstanding huge natural and man-made tourist destinations.

Following investment developments, the existence of peace and stability within the country, coupled with the religious, cultural and natural wonders of the country, the tourism sector is flourishing remarkably. To facilitate an easy flow of tourism, hence, expanding tourist infrastructure is vital, he added.

The new tourism motto ‘Land of Origins’ reflects the country as the origin of humanity and it is witnessing a greater promotion on it. In this regard, ETO is doing marketing and promotion activities to boost up country’s revenue, the Director further said.

Getnet added that the Capital is a diplomatic city for Africa and a seat for over 200 diplomats. It is also the headquarter for the African Union (AU), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) as well as other regional and international organizations which makes it the third diplomatic hub in the world. “These would enable the nation to maximize its benefits from tourism industry,” Getnet elucidated.

Mentioning reports Getnet said even if Ethiopia is one of the leading countries in Africa with its tangible and intangible heritages, it has not yet gained more from the tourism industry.

Promoting and identifying country’s tourism potential based on research; and giving much focus to supportive investments like hotels are issues that need to be well considered by all stakeholders, Getnet commented.

“The Ethiopian Tourism Transformation Council, a new task force led by Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn, has been doing its level best in the sector through facilitating ways of tapping the immense tourism potentials of the country,” he further stated.

Noting that Ethiopia has numerous historical, cultural, geographical, religious attractions he said recently, an intangible heritages such as the ‘Meskel festival’, ‘The Founding of the True Cross’, ‘Fichee-Chambalaalla’-new year festival of the Sidama people and the ‘Gada’ System, an indigenous democratic socio-political system of the Oromo people, Awash, Nech Sar, Bale Mountains, are among the leading tourist attractions and destinations in the country.

Steeped in history and ethnic diversity, Ethiopia is blessed with cultural and natural attractions. And the progressive social policies and fast growing economy are contributing to its emergence as a word class tourist destination, documents from EOT indicated.

Ethiopia: Why Ethiopia Is the 'Land of Origins'?

By Tewodros KassaA year elapsed since Ethiopia changed its national tourism motto: 'Thirteen Months of Sunshine' to the 'Land of Origins'. The former tourism motto served over a century in motivating the nation's diversified natural and man-made tourism endowments. Now, the nation continues promoting its untapped tourism endowment and potential…

June 23, 2017

In "news"

Ethiopia: Tourism, Hospitality Sector Perform Well Despite Challenges

By Tewodros KassaThe tourism and hospitality sector secured two-billion Birr revenue during the last nine months of this fiscal year while about 700,000 tourists visited the country. The sound tourism development and other policies, the expansion of star-rated hotels as well as strong public private partnerships are among the drivers…

June 20, 2017

In "news"

Ethiopia: Hotel and Hospitality Sector in Ethiopia

Photo: Addis FortuneGenet Guest house, having 10 rooms, located at yeka district. By Tsegay Hagos Hotel and tourism are inseparable sectors. To boast of a developed tourism and hospitality sector, a country needs to own modern hotels, lodges and other recreational centres. When we trace back to the history of…

March 27, 2017

In "archive"

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Letter from Africa: Freed Boko Haram 'wives' return to captors

Letter from Africa: Freed Boko Haram 'wives' return to captors

In our series of letters from African journalists, Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani looks at why some Nigerian women have gone back to the militant Islamists who abducted them. When news emerged that some of the Chibok schoolgirls, abducted by Boko Haram in 2014, had declined to return home with the batch of 82 freed in May, the world found it difficult to believe. Not even the release of a Boko Haram video showing some hijab-clad, Kalashnikov-wielding girls saying they were happy in their new lives, was enough to convince people. "They must have been coerced," some said. "It must be Stockholm syndrome," others said. What else could explain why any girl, any woman, would choose to remain with such horrible

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South Africa’s Commuters Derailed By Corruption

Publication: Huffington Post

Author: Ferial Haffajee, Noxolo Mafu, Queenin Masuabi and Nkosinathi Shazi

A staggering number of Prasa contracts are rotten and the system is on the brink of paralysis. What does this mean for 700,000 people who rely on the trains?

Over 700,000 South Africans rely on a train to get them to work everyday, yet their journeys are often derailed by late trains. Trains are not safe and dreams are deferred by journeys that go off track.

The pain of the passengers is not caused by a shortage of money. South Africa spends almost R100-billion a year on transport with a significant chunk going to subsidise train travel. But the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) is paralysed by corruption.

Former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, in her report on Prasa called “Derailed” found that billions of rands worth of contracts were suspicious and should be investigated by the Treasury.

The Treasury undertook the investigations and found that only 13 of 219 contracts it ordered forensic investigations into, were sound and above board. They only probed contracts above a value of R10-million. The rest were rotten, reported the Daily Maverick’s Scorpio, as a perusal of the outcomes of 12 different investigations show. While the reporting of corruption headlines the big numbers, what does it mean to ordinary people?

Prasa* procured the wrong trainsso a shortage has meant trains are often overcrowded because we don’t have enough of them.

Last month, the Johannesburg High Court said the purchase of trains worth R2.6-billion for Prasa by a company called Swifambo should be cancelled. Passenger satisfaction levels are at an all-time low of 40 percent, according to an internal Prasa document written to turn around the rail agency.

This week HuffPost SA went out riding trains to see how corruption impacts the commuter. We found a stampede of discontent…

It’s not surprising from experiences like these to learn that fewer and fewer people are using the trains. In a hard-hitting document marked confidential and called a “Prasa Turnaround Strategy” dated 2016, the organisation lays bare its problems in stark numbers. We add the cost of corruption:

• 1,827 coaches or 40 percent of the fleet was not in service —
  The price of corruption: contracts to buy new trains are mired in corruption
• 375 coaches were vandalized in the first six months of the 2016/1017 financial year — The price of corruption: signalling contracts were among those found to be irregular or corruptly awarded. Signalling problems often lead to accidents
• An increase of accidents and train fires: there have been four major accidents between 2015 and 2017 — The price of corruption: the international Track Quality Index found there was increasing deterioration of tracks across the country

South Africa has not changed its spatial apartheid — black people live far away from their workplaces and spend an average 74 minutes on a train commute.

Congestion on our roads makes these trips even longer, yet many train passengers are making an exodus from trains because they are unreliable and often unsafe. Prasa’s own research shows it lost a quarter of paid trips between 2016 and 2017. The agency has a budget deficit that reaches into at least R1-billion.

Take a look here at how passengers are leaving and how performance has gone down. Corruption and mismanagement are killing PRASA.

Credit: PRASA

Credit: PRASA

The story of corruption in South Africa is often told in big headlines and big shocking numbers. But what about the small stories when the impact is felt on the ground? Here are some of those stories in letters written to Prasa and to former Transport Minister Edna Molewa from frustrated, hurt and angry passengers.

People Won’t use Transport Systems They don’t Understand

Publication: Infrastructure News

Author: Riante Naidoo

The bidding process for the provision of 48 new Gautrain coaches has begun in a lucrative R3.5-billion deal

People are less inclined to use public transport systems such as the Metrorail‚ especially if they have never used it before, Pieter Onderwater, a public transport researcher and consultant told delegates at the recent Southern African Transport Conference and Exhibition in Pretoria.

Onderwater looked at different factors that influenced passengers transport behaviours, ranging from socio-economic aspects‚ internal train system aspects‚ and other aspects pertaining to transport systems.

He concluded that a passenger’s choice was influenced by the purpose of their travel depending on whether they were commuting to work, university, school, or for personal reasons.

In his presentation, Onderwater revealed that passengers from a lower-income household preferred spending their money on necessities such as food, instead of transport.

He explained that train passengers had three budgets to consider. These included time‚ money and effort – with the ‘effort’ budget more difficult to measure.

“Effort relates to how easy it is for train passengers to get onto a passenger rail service,” Onderwater said. “Most of South Africa’s public transport systems are not accessible to people with disabilities. And some have to walk three to five kilometres just to find public transport.”

He explained that people were less inclined to use a public transport system if they did not understand how the system worked and if they were unfamiliar with the timetables.

He added that train comfort was also more important to leisure-line train travellers compared to everyday users whose primary means of transport is a train. For these travellers, being seated was said to bring greater discomfort than standing in crowded situations.

Onderwater also said the country could possibly see 5% passenger rail growth in the next financial year‚ although he added that this figure is capped because public train services cannot meet the current demand.

Nigeria releases first photo of ailing president in almost 80 days

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria released a photograph of President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday, the first in almost three months after he left the country on May 7 for medical leave in Britain.

In stark contrast to his first absence, when numerous photos of a notably skeletal leader were published, the presidency had released no images of Buhari during his current medical leave until now. That sparked speculation ranging from his ability to contest the 2019 election for a second term to his death.

The president is on his second medical leave so far this year, the majority of which he has spent being treated for an undisclosed ailment in London.

The picture purports to show Buhari dining in Britain with senior members of his political party on Sunday, according to an accompanying statement from the presidency.

Reuters was unable to verify the authenticity of the photograph.

"The party delegation spent more than an hour with President Buhari over lunch," said Sunday's presidency statement, adding that "President Buhari will be back as soon as the doctors give him the green light."

The refusal of officials to disclose details of Buhari's illness has triggered fierce speculation in Nigerian media and on social media over the past few months about his ailment and whether he will seek a second term in the 2019 election.

Details of the 74-year-old president's condition have not been disclosed. Buhari left the capital, Abuja, in May and handed over power to his deputy, Yemi Osinbajo, seeking to allay concerns of a void at the helm of Africa's biggest economy.

The president's first medical leave began in January and lasted nearly two months.

A thin-looking Buhari was last seen in Nigeria on state television welcoming a group of 82 girls released by Islamist militant group Boko Haram, just hours before he flew to Britain to begin his medical leave.

Buhari reduced his working day to a few hours each day after returning to Nigeria from his first stint of medical leave on March 10, diplomats and government sources said.

He was not seen outside of the presidential villa in Abuja before leaving again on May 7.

(Reporting by Felix Onuah; Writing by Paul Carsten; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Ailing President Buhari Appears in Public for First Time in Over Two Months

Ailing president Muhammadu Buhari, 74, appeared in public full of vitality for the first time in more than two months, hosting a delegation of  APC Leaders and governors in London.

Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo state, said the President was very cheerful and has not lost any bit of his sense of humour.

“By our visit to London today, the merchants of lies have been put out of business and Nigerians will not buy the garbage they have been selling. All those who look up to fake news can find better use for their time,” Governor Okorocha noted.

The governor said the party delegation spent more than an hour with President Buhari over lunch, and it was very clear from the discussions that he followed developments at home very closely.

He said the President was delighted to receive the delegation and asked each governor about affairs in his state. He also asked the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, about the state of the railways.

When asked to react to all the negative things being said about him, the President just laughed, describing such negative reports as lies. Governor Okorocha said President Buhari was completely unperturbed by the cocktail of lies. He, instead, sent his best wishes to Nigerians.

According to the governor, Nigerians don’t have to worry at all, adding that President Buhari will be back as soon as the doctors give him the green light.

President Buhari is under increasing pressure to disclose the nature of his illness to the nation, as lawsuits continue to pile up challenging his fitness to continue as president of the federal republic of Nigeria.

The nature of Buhari’s illness is still a mystery, constantly played down by  leaders, aides and party members who have called him “hale and hearty.” But his prolonged public absences have prompted anxiety across the nation.

Governors Umaru Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa; Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna; Yahaya Bello of Kogi; and APC National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun, were also in the delegation.

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Crack Military Unit Ordered To Hunt Down, Arrest or Kill Shekau in 40 Days

The Operation Lafiya Dole has made the  factional leader of calamitous group Boko Haram its number one target, with fresh orders to hunt him down.

The elite military unit has been ordered to take down Abubakar Shekau in a “kill or capture mission”.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, directed Maj.-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, the Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Maiduguri, to capture Abubakar Shekau, self-styled leader of the Boko Haram sect, “dead or alive”.

Buratai further directed the Theatre commander to do so within 40 days.

A statement issued by the Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman, on Friday night, said that Attahiru should “employ all arsenal at the disposal of the Theatre Command to smoke out Shekau wherever he is hiding in Nigeria.”

“The general public is please requested to also assist and volunteer information that would lead to the accomplishment of this task,” Usman said.

The government has falsely claimed on various occasions over more than a year that it has killed or injured the Boko Haram leader, but Shekau usually appears soon after denying the claims.

Last year, weeks after the Nigerian military announced it had killed Shekau, the militant leader surfaced in a video where he proclaimed he was in good health and mocked army leaders.

“Oh tyrants, I’m in a happy state, in good health and in safety,” Shekau says in the video released by Boko Harem. He laughed at the Nigerian army for claiming he was killed in an airstrike. “You have been spreading in the social media that you injured or killed me,” Shekau said during the 40-minute video uploaded to YouTube.

Boko Haram group is responsible for 20,000 deaths since 2009. Boko Haram has also displaced more than 2.6 million people, leaving them homeless.

All rights Reserved. You may not reproduce or communicate any of the content on this website, including files downloadable from this website, without the permission or appropriate credit being given to www.persecondnews.com

Crack Military Unit Ordered To Hunt Down, Arrest or Kill Shekau in 40 Days

The Operation Lafiya Dole has made the  factional leader of calamitous group Boko Haram its number one target, with fresh orders to hunt him down.

The elite military unit has been ordered to take down Abubakar Shekau in a “kill or capture mission”.

The Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, directed Maj.-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, the Theatre Commander, Operation Lafiya Dole, Maiduguri, to capture Abubakar Shekau, self-styled leader of the Boko Haram sect, “dead or alive”.

Buratai further directed the Theatre commander to do so within 40 days.

A statement issued by the Director, Army Public Relations, Brig.-Gen. Sani Usman, on Friday night, said that Attahiru should “employ all arsenal at the disposal of the Theatre Command to smoke out Shekau wherever he is hiding in Nigeria.”

“The general public is please requested to also assist and volunteer information that would lead to the accomplishment of this task,” Usman said.

The government has falsely claimed on various occasions over more than a year that it has killed or injured the Boko Haram leader, but Shekau usually appears soon after denying the claims.

Last year, weeks after the Nigerian military announced it had killed Shekau, the militant leader surfaced in a video where he proclaimed he was in good health and mocked army leaders.

“Oh tyrants, I’m in a happy state, in good health and in safety,” Shekau says in the video released by Boko Harem. He laughed at the Nigerian army for claiming he was killed in an airstrike. “You have been spreading in the social media that you injured or killed me,” Shekau said during the 40-minute video uploaded to YouTube.

Boko Haram group is responsible for 20,000 deaths since 2009. Boko Haram has also displaced more than 2.6 million people, leaving them homeless.

All rights Reserved. You may not reproduce or communicate any of the content on this website, including files downloadable from this website, without the permission or appropriate credit being given to www.persecondnews.com