Girl dumped at three months, missing 14 years after

Augustina



A 14-year-old pupil of Command Children Primary School, Ikeja Military Cantonment, Lagos, Miss Augustina Ilevbare, is missing.

Augustina was last seen on Monday, August 5, 2013.

Until the fateful day, Augustina had been living with her father, Peter Ilevbare, a lance corporal with the Nigerian Army, 9 Brigade Garrison, Ikeja Cantonment and her stepmother, at CBQ 75, Room 14 of the barracks.

Ilevbare, from Uroe Owen East Local Government Area of Edo State, when contacted on the phone, told PUNCH Metro that he had been living with Augustina since 1999.

He added that the girl left home without telling anyone where she was going.

He said Augustina was not born by his current wife, stressing that her mother abandoned her when she was three months old.

Ilevbare said he and the missing child’s mother were not properly married when she got pregnant for him.

He added, “Since that time, she had been living happily with me and her stepmother. Ever since her mother, whom I have severed relationship with, dumped her in my place when she was three months, I have not set my eyes on her.

“The Sunday preceding her disappearance, we (the family including Augustina), went to an eatery. That is why her disappearance is giving me cause for concern. I enquired from my wife whether they had a disagreement, she answered to the contrary.”

The soldier said they had searched every nook and cranny for her but to no avail.

“Since that time, nobody has heard any information about her. She does not have phone for us to call. I searched for her mother’s place, but she said she did not see our daughter.

“Why I am also disturbed is that nobody has called us for ransom to suspect that she must have been kidnapped,” he said.

Ilevbare said he had already reported the matter at Akinpelu Police Division in Oshodi.

He also said the matter had been reported to the Military Police office at the Ikeja Military Cantonment.

The spokesperson for the state police command, Ngozi Braide, said she could not reach the Divisional Police Officer of the station where the case was reported, adding that she would call back.



#punch

Testicle eating fish discovered in the Scandinavian waters! Swimmers beware!!

Black Pacu (Colossoma macropomum)


If you're going swimming in Scandinavia, wear your trunks!

Authorities are warning skinny dippers about the Pacu, a fish similar to the piranha that really enjoys cracking nuts with its strong jaws. They've also been known to mistake testicles for something nice and crunchy, and they're strong enough to take off a finger.

Fisherman discovered the horrifying little creature, which is native to South America, in the Danish/Swedish strait of Oresund, CNN reports. The Pacu can grow to 55 pounds, has giant teeth and looks angry, but is usually the more friendly cousin of the piranha. That is, until it sees a testicle.

Experts at the Natural History Museum of Denmark, who were notified of the Pacu sighting, warn: "Anyone choosing to bathe in the Oresund these days had best keep their swimsuits well tied."

Locals in Papua New Guinea say they have firsthand knowledge of a fatal testicle bite. Two fisherman are said to have died of blood loss after a Pacu chomped off their testicles, according to Metro. That said, such attacks are uncommon.

Last year, two Pacus were reportedly spotted in Lake Lou Yaeger in Illinois. Officials think amateur exotic fish collectors are the ones releasing their pets into waters where they don't belong. Anyone caught dumping exotic fish can be criminally charged.

It's unclear how the fish got into Scandinavian waters.

Kim Kardashian And Kanye West Turn Down Millions For Baby's First Pics

Don't be fooled this is not a photo of Kim Kardashian holding North West.

According to TMZ , Kim Kardashian And Kanye West have already passed on several impressive offers , including one as high as $3 million for the first photos of North West.

Sources told the website that the couple thought about selling photos of little North West, and then donating the money to charity the way other stars have done, but they decided against it.

 There has been alot of stunts and fake  photos of North West  in recent weeks.

Nigeria...A country so corrupt it is better to flush away or burn your cash than to give money in aid

An article about Nigeria culled from dailymail...Read and let's know your views...

Nigeria is not quite the most corrupt country on earth. But according to Transparency International, which monitors international financial corruption, it is not far off — coming a shameful 172nd worst among the 215 nations surveyed.

Only countries as dysfunctional, derelict and downright dangerous as Haiti or the Congo are more corrupt.

In theory, Nigeria’s 170 million-strong population should be prospering in a country that in recent years has launched four satellites into space and now has a burgeoning space programme.

Frankly, we might as well flush our cash away or burn it for all the good it's doing for ordinary Nigerians

Moreover, Nigeria is sitting on crude oil reserves estimated at 35 billion barrels (enough to fuel the entire world for more than a year), not to mention 100 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

It also manages to pay its legislators the highest salaries in the world, with a basic wage of £122,000, nearly double what British MPs earn and many hundreds of times that of the country’s ordinary citizens.

The oil industry is highly corrupt, with 136 million barrels of crude oil worth $11¿billion (£7.79 billion) were illegally siphoned off in just two years from 2009 to 2011

No wonder the ruling elite can afford luxury homes in London or Paris, and top-end cars that, across West Africa, have led to the sobriquet ‘Wabenzi’, or people of the Mercedes-Benz.

Yet 70 per cent of Nigerians live below the poverty line of £1.29 a day, struggling with a failing infrastructure and chronic fuel shortages because of a lack of petrol refining capacity, even though their country produces more crude oil than Texas.

And that poverty is not for want of assistance from the wider world.

70 per cent of Nigerians live below the poverty line of £1.29 a day, struggling with a failing infrastructure and chronic fuel shortages

Since gaining its independence in 1960, Nigeria has received  $400 billion (£257 billion) in aid —  six times what the U.S. pumped into reconstructing the whole of Western Europe after World War II.

Nigeria suffers from what economists call the ‘resource curse’ — the paradox that developing countries with an abundance of natural reserves tend to enjoy worse economic growth than countries without minerals and fuels.

The huge flow of oil wealth means the government does not rely on taxpayers for its income, so does not have to answer to the people — a situation that fosters rampant corruption and economic sclerosis because there is no investment in infrastructure as the country’s leaders cream off its wealth.

Nigerian police can often be easily bribed to look the other way in a country where corruption in Nigeria is endemic

Corruption in Nigeria is endemic — from parents bribing teachers to get hold of exam papers for their children through clerks handed ‘dash’ money to get round the country’s stifling bureaucracy to policemen taking money for turning a blind eye.

It is at its most blatant, perhaps, in the oil industry, where 136 million barrels of crude oil worth $11 billion (£7.79 billion) were illegally siphoned off in just two years from 2009 to 2011, while hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies were given to fuel merchants to deliver petrol that never materialised.

Whether the country is ruled by civilians or soldiers, who invariably proclaim their burning desire to eradicate civilian corruption, it makes absolutely no difference.

The huge flow of oil wealth means the government does not rely on taxpayers for its income, so does not have to answer to the people

The military ruled Nigeria between 1966 and 1979 and from 1983 to 1999, but if anything, corruption was worse when they were in charge since they had a habit of killing anyone threatening to expose them.

It is estimated that since 1960, about $380 billion  (£245 billion) of government money has been stolen — almost the total sum Nigeria has received in foreign aid.

And that even when successive governments attempt to recover the stolen money, much of this is looted again.

President Sani Abacha, a military dictator who ruled in the Nineties, had accrued a staggering $4¿billion (£2.58¿billion) fortune by the time he died

In essence, 80 per cent of the country’s substantial oil revenues go to the government, which disburses cash to  individual governors and hundreds of their cronies, so  effectively these huge sums  remain in the hands of a  mere 1 per cent of the Nigerian population.

 

  

Political power is universally regarded as a chance to reap  the fortunes of office by the ruling elite and its families and tribes.

The most egregious example was President Abacha, a military dictator who ruled in the Nineties and accrued a staggering $4 billion (£2.58 billion) fortune by the time he died of a heart attack while in bed with two Indian prostitutes at his palace in the nation’s capital, Abuja, in 1998. Abacha’s business associates did nicely, too — one of them deposited £122 million in a Jersey offshore account after selling Nigerian army trucks for five times their worth.

Public office is so lucrative that people will kill to get it. Nigeria has 36 state governors, 31 of whom are under federal investigation for corruption.

In one of the smallest states, a candidate for the governorship occupied by one Ayo Fayose received texts signed by the ‘Fayose M Squad’ — and it was clear the ‘M’ was for ‘Murder’ when they stabbed and bludgeoned a third candidate to death in his own bed.

By the end of its term of office, the British Government will have handed over £1 billion in aid to Nigeria.

Given the appalling levels of  corruption in that nation, this largesse is utterly sickening — for the money will only  be recycled into bank accounts in the Channel Islands or Switzerland.

Frankly, we might as well flush our cash away or burn it for all the good it’s doing for ordinary Nigerians.

 

Nigeria boutiques creating high-end Lagos fashion hub

A customer tries on accessories at boutique Temple Muse in Lagos on June 14, 2013. Most of Nigeria's roughly 160 million people live in extreme poverty, but the upper class number among the wealthiest in Africa. (AFP)

Designer and owner of LDA fashions, Lanre Da Silva Ajayi, stands beside her creations made with local fabrics, in Lagos, on June 14, 2013. A growing number of boutique owners and designers are working to change the fashion scene in Nigeria. (AFP)

Managing director of Temple Muse, Indian-born Avinash Wadhwani, speaks about fashion trends in Lagos, on June 14, 2013. He and his brother saw there was a gap in the city's luxury market. (AFP)

LAGOS (AFP) –  Shoppers ready to spend lavishly on clothes by elite designers sip champagne in a discreetly located store that only those in-the-know know exists.

Perhaps it's not an unusual scene in Manhattan or Milan, but in Lagos, sub-Saharan Africa's largest city, shops like Temple Muse are a novelty. A growing number of boutique owners and fashion designers however are working to change that.

Most of Nigeria's roughly 160 million people live in extreme poverty, but the upper class here number among the wealthiest in Africa, including those who have profited from the continent's largest oil industry.

Nigerians' sense of style is also well-known, and the country boasts several fashion designers who have made their mark internationally.

Just ask Michelle Obama, who wore a blouse by Nigeria's Maki Oh on a recent trip to South Africa.

Or take the Wadhwani brothers, who are Indian but were raised in Lagos. They saw there was a gap in the city's luxury market.

The brothers opened a store that aims to serve Nigeria's ultra-high-end shoppers who typically hop on planes to Europe when their wardrobes need an upgrade.

"I found a niche in the market," said Avinash Wadhwani, co-owner of Temple Muse boutique in the posh Victoria Island neighbourhood of Lagos.

He previously worked as a buyer for the London department store Selfridges, learning first-hand the appeal of Europe's top fashion lines. But he insisted Nigeria's rich are also seeking a local look.

Some Nigerians "travel by plane every other week and shop in the best boutiques around the globe, but they still have that sense of pride and everyone wants something from (their) own heritage," he said.

Temple Muse, which opened five years ago, is protected from the hectic mega-city outside by a thick metal door and is equipped with a champagne bar and a cafe. Some garments come with pricetags of $3,000 (2,300 euros), and there are fashion mavens ready to snap up several of them.

Odun Ogunbiyi, a customer who claimed plenty of foreign shopping experience, told AFP the outfits she buys in Nigeria are admired wherever she goes.

"I travel a lot. I go to Miami, I go to London to visit friends and family. and they ask me 'where did you get that from?'," said Ogunbiyi, a TV host.

When she tells people the outfit is Nigerian, they say they "can't believe it," she said.

"It's gotten to the point where we are on standard with international brands, which is great!"

Wadhwani agreed that Nigerian designers are becoming increasingly respected abroad.

The US First Lady's recent appearance in a Maki Oh blouse was seen as evidence of growing exposure for designers here.

But Wadhwani knows that his local clients also want to wear premium European names, so he stocks the embroidered dresses of Nigerian designer Lanre Da Silva Ajayi alongside Givenchy and Italy's Emilio Pucci.

Tope Edu is another fashion seller hoping that wealthy Nigerians will shop more in Lagos. She manages the Ermenegildo Zegna store on Victoria Island, the Italian line's first and only outlet in sub-Saharan Africa, which opened in April.

But in a reminder of the perils of doing business in Nigeria, Edu said it took seven years to get the luxury franchise opened.

Zegna first needed to be sure that there was a consumer base to support the store but faced a lack of reliable consumer data.

A series of made-to-measure Zegna events were successful, giving confidence that a full-time ready-to-wear store could survive.

Company chief executive Gildo Zegna also had faith in the buying power of Africa's super-rich.

He told the Financial Times that customers from the continent on average spent 50 percent more in Zegna's stores than buyers from other regions.

The next challenge was the venue and ensuring, as Edu explained, that the Lagos "Zegna store looked exactly like a Zegna store elsewhere in the world."

"It's a very difficult process," she conceded, citing Nigeria's nightmarish bureaucracy.

The stand-alone shop is on a street lined with office buildings which hardly offers the majestic surroundings of Paris's Champs-Elysees but inside business appears to be thriving.

Especially on smart-casual items like polo shirts, which are being scooped up at just under $500 each, Edu told AFP.

She debunked the notion that Nigeria's elite are committed to exclusively shopping abroad.

"Once (they) know it's available, I think that same customer will purchase from here," she said.

Like Zegna, Folake Folarin-Cocker has growing faith in the Nigerian and wider African market.

Her Tiffany Amber line, launched in 1998 and Nigeria's first ready-to-wear brand, has four standalone stores in the country.

Her designs are also sold in Ghana and South Africa, and will soon be available in oil-rich Angola.

Shoppers in Milan and London can also buy Tiffany Amber items, but for Folarin-Cocker, the European and US markets are mainly for publicity.

Those markets "are saturated. Africa is untapped," she said.

While her work is currently priced at luxury rates, she is preparing a lower cost line because she believes the continent is craving an accessible, ready-to-wear brand.

An H&M or "Zara with an African accent," she explained, referring to popular European clothes shops.

Like the owners and shoppers at Temple Muse, Folarin-Cocker takes pride in the growing respect and exposure being given to Nigerian designers and said that talent in the fashion industry can help change perceptions of the continent.

"Fashion is one of the ways we are going to be able to rebrand Africa," she said. "It's not 'We Are The World, We Are the Children' anymore."