Amnesty: Hundreds Killed in Detention in Nigeria

[Time]

(LAGOS, Nigeria) — Hundreds of people are dying in military detention from shootings, suffocation or starvation as Nigeria's security forces crack down on an Islamic uprising in the northeast, Amnesty International said Tuesday. More than 950 people died in military custody in the first six months of this year, according to "credible information" from a senior Nigerian army officer, the rights group said. The Associated Press reported in August that hundreds of people detained by security forces in northern Nigeria have disappeared. The new Amnesty International report may help explain what happened to all those people — a horrifying result for their loved ones who are still searching for the missing. Military and government officials did not immediately respond to phone calls and emails requesting their comments. If the number of deaths in military custody cited by the Amnesty International is accurate, that means Nigeria's military has killed more civilians than the extremists did during the first half of 2013. Amnesty International called for an urgent investigation. Detainees "were reportedly shot in the leg during interrogations, provided no medical care and left to bleed to death," the London-based human rights group said in the report, which includes testimony from freed detainees. The AP reported three months after President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in the northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe on May 14 that hundreds of people were being rounded up in night raids. The state of emergency gives a Joint Task Force of soldiers, police, intelligence and customs and immigration officials the right to detain people and move them from place to place, as well as the right to search without warrants. Distraught relatives, human rights organizations and journalists have asked the army, the police, intelligence services and government officials where the arrested people are, but have received no answers, the AP reported. Amnesty International says dozens of bodies are being delivered by soldiers to the mortuaries of the main hospitals in Maiduguri and Damaturu, capitals of Borno and Yobe states. Human rights activist Shehu

Source: Amnesty: Hundreds Killed in Detention in Nigeria

[OyoState]

Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has admonished Nigerians to imbibe the spirit of love, togetherness and peaceful co-existence so as to enhance the growth and development of the country.

The Governor, in his message to Islamic faithful on the occasion of this year's Eid-El-Kabir festival, said that it was only in an atmosphere of peace that Nigeria could achieve the desired greatness.

He condemned the spate of violence, brigandage and wanton destruction of lives and property in some parts of the country, saying this was against the sanctity of human lives.

"We cannot say we are brothers and sisters and still be carrying guns and matchetes against one another. What do we stand to benefit by killing and maiming ourselves with ignominy?'' he queried.

While congratulating Muslims, Sen. Ajimobi urged them to use the occasion of the Eid-El-Kabir to pray for the peace, progress and economic emancipation of the country as well as on the security challenges currently confronting the country.

He also admonished them to continue to exhibit love towards their fellow human beings and dedication to the service of humanity as exhibited by Prophet Ibrahim.

The Governor further reiterated his administration's commitment to the uplift of the Oyo State and to ensure that it is put on a sound footing.

Part of his efforts at achieving these, he said, was the various developmental projects which his Government had executed since its inception as well as the Urban Renewal Programme which has changed the face of the State.

Source: Ajimobi congratulates Muslims on Eid-el-Kabir, urges peaceful co-existence

[newswarrior]

Chief Coach of City of David, COD, United of Lagos, Olabode Awakan has expressed confidence in the ability of his team are capable of  beating Remo United in the Nigeria National League match scheduled to hold on Sunday at the Shagamu Stadium, Ogun State.

COD defeated Bendel Insurance 2-1 last Saturday at the Onikan Stadium, Lagos, and will now confront Remo Stars in the tie that promises to be competitive.

Awakan told P.M.NEWS Sports that having defeated Bendel Insurance last Saturday in Lagos, his team are in high spirits to win their next game against Remo Stars, saying that anything short of victory will be a disappointment.

"We are going to Shagamu with positive mind. We have a balanced team and committed players who are hungry for success," said Awakan.

Commenting on the performance of his players in their last match against Bendel Insurance, Awakan said he was impressed with the way his players responded after Insurance scored their goal.

He said if his team can continue the way they played against Insurance, they will secure promotion ticket to the Nigeria Professional Football League at the end of the season.

"We are getting better in every match. The way my players responded against Bendel Insurance showed that we are better off and if we can continue with this in our next game, the sky is limit for us," he said.

—Sunday Akintoye



Source: COD Coach Eyes Victory At Remo Stars

[TechCrunch]

BitLock is a smart lock for your bike that uses Bluetooth LE/4.0 to do away with physical keys — allowing you to lock and unlock your ride based on the proximity of your smartphone to your bike (or directly within the app). The device exists in prototype form only for now, as its San Francisco-based makers are seeking $120,000 on Kickstarter to go into production.

As with similar smart lock concepts for the home — such as Lockitron — there are more advantages to ditching metal keys and going for software than having one less key to carry around with you: BitLock's system means you can tap into the sharing economy by sharing access to your bike with others, provisioning and revoking digital keys as you see fit.

The app will also let you view the location where you last locked up your bike on a map (based on recording your smartphone's GPS at the time), and get maps of your rides and activity data — such as average speed, distance pedalled and estimated calories burnt. Bundling lots of handy functions in one.

Best of all: BitLock's battery life is apparently good for five years' average use (based on five lock/unlock operations per day), thanks to the low-energy requirements of Bluetooth 4.0 and a Lithium thionyl chloride (Li-SOCl 2) battery. In London at least, it's far more likely that your bike will get lifted long before the battery runs out.

On the theft/security front, BitLock's makers claim the lock's reinforced, heat-treated and cut-resistant steel "cannot be defeated using any kind of bolt cutter or hacksaw". While the digital keys are covered by banking-grade encryption. The lock is also designed to resist the weather, with internal electronics sealed and waterproofed and able to operate "under an extended temperature range".

What about if you lose your phone? Access to your bike can be disabled by resetting your account password. And if you want to unlock your bike when you're without your phone (or if its battery has run out) BitLock has a couple of contingencies: one being a 16 digit binary code (that can be generated when you register the lock) to use to unlock the device. "Write down the code on a piece of paper, and keep it in your wallet," they suggest.

Or there's the cloud route — meaning you'll just need to borrow someone else's smartphone or use another Bluetooth 4.0 device and then log into your BitLock account to be able to unlock your bike.

Current devices compatible with BitLock include the iPhone 4S (or newer) on the iPhone side, and on Android there's a clutch of compatible phones including the Samsung Galaxy S3, S4, Note 2 & Note 3; the HTC One; Google's Nexus 4 & 5; and Motorola Moto X (and others). Expect more to be added to that list by the time BitLock makes it to market — with close to a year to wait til shipping date — assuming it hits its funding goal.

BitLock looks to be on track to hit its funding goal — although it's still a ways off, it's raised close to $41,000+ of the $120k target with 28 days left to run on the campaign.

How much is BitLock going to set you back? There's a handful of early bird $79 Kickstarter pledge levels left to get a lock, with an estimated shipping date of July 2014. Once those are gone the price rises to $99.

 



Source: BitLock Is A Smart Bike Lock That Lets You Share Your Bike, Map & Track Your Rides

[scholarman]

Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited (NAE) is funding postgraduate scholarship Award at Nigerian or Overseas University. Scholarship is available for pursuing one year Master's Degree programme. Students must possess a minimum of Second Class Upper Bachelors degree from a recognized Nigerian University. Application closing date is Oct 31st, 2013.

Study Subject(s): Only candidates with offer of admission in disciplines related to the following areas should apply; Geosciences, Engineering (Petroleum, Civil, Structural, Mechanical, Sub Sea, Electrical, Marine, Chemical), Petroleum Economics, Oil and Gas Law.

Course Level: Scholarship is available for pursuing Master's Degree programme at Nigerian or Overseas University.

Scholarship Provider: Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited (NAE), on behalf of the NNPC/NAE/OANDO PSC

Scholarship can be taken at: Nigeria

Eligibility: To qualify, applicants MUST:

1.Possess a minimum of Second Class Upper Bachelors degree from a recognized Nigerian University.

2. Must have secured admission into a Nigerian or Overseas University (based on the category being applied for) for a one year Master's Degree programme in any of the disciplines listed below.

3. Not above 25 years of age by December 2013.

Scholarship Open for Students of Following Countries: Students of Nigerian are eligible for this postgraduate scholarship.

Scholarship Description: Nigerian Agip Exploration Limited (NAE), on behalf of the NNPC/NAE/OANDO PSC, is committed to the training and development of manpower as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme. In pursuance of this, NAE invites applications from suitably qualified and interested Nigerian graduates for the 2013/2014 Post Graduate Scholarship Award Scheme. The award is in two categories – Nigerian and Overseas.

Duration of award(s): Scholarship is awarded for one year.

Notification: Shortlisted candidates will be required to take an aptitude test. Successful candidates will be contacted with details of the qualifying test via SMS text and email.

How to Apply: The mode of applying is online.

Scholarship Application Deadline: The deadline for applications is Oct 31st, 2013.

Further Official Scholarship Information and Application

Source: NAE Postgraduate Scholarship Award for Nigerian Students, 2014

[Mirror]

More than three years after the introduction of the Local Content policy, which aims at increasing indigenous participation in the maritime, oil and gas industries, only 10 percent has been achieved. However, Managing Director of the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistic Base (LADOL), Dr. Amy Jadesimi, in this interview with FRANCIS EZEM, says successful completion of the proposed Egina FPSO integration at the base will elevate the implementation to 70per cent.

What has it been like since you started the development of this facility?

The initial development we did at LADOL created this $500 million facility. This existing facility was also created ahead of the market as a Deep Offshore Logistic Base. As you may have known, we were designated three years ago as a deep offshore logistic base by the Federal Ministry of Transport and that is the core of the LADOL business.

What we have done now is to expand and create a one-stop-shop for all maritime and other oil and gas activities that we think are critical to enable these companies to do more of their jobs in Nigeria as opposed to the 10 percent local content level we have now.

How do you assess your company in terms of handling FPSO-related jobs?

One thing many people do not know is that LADOL has already supported one FPSO. In 2006 and 2007, the final installation of the Agbami, which was at that time the largest FPSO in the world, was actually done from LADOL and we worked day and night, we provided offices, everything management and many different services. Since then, we have also carried out many ground-breaking projects.

We have done the HRV heavy lifting installation operation, we have handled the Chevron Buoy, which weighs over 300 tonnes. So all over the years we have carried out many of such projects but mainly on the logistic side and also on the human capital management and personnel side. When we expanded into rig repairs, we did so in partnership with indigenous companies in terms of bringing workers into LADOL, providing training and providing materials and son on.

I will say that our rig repair operation was largely a Nigerian affair and we demonstrated that we can do 100 percent rig repair in Nigeria for the first time. The key process has been this one-stop –shop, which we usually refer to. So you basically have to build everything you build in a small town. So that is the phase one. We built the facility, we tested the facility, we contracted with local and international companies, we did the logistics and we did the rig repairs.

Can you give us a picture of what the phase two will be like and what gave rise to some of these decisions you had to make?

As we are now going into phase two, it was very important that we chose the right strategic expansion and one of the things that informed our decision to go into FPSO was that it has been confirmed many times that LADOL is the optimum location for onshore FPSO integration in Nigeria.

Now there are many reasons for that, which have nothing to do with us. One is the proximity to the harbour, the way to the shipping channels, so long as it is a very short distance the FPSO has to go, the shipping channel throughout which course the FPSO will take is between 400 and 500 metres wide so there is plenty of room for the FPSO to maneuver. Even the location we have chosen to berth the FPSO is out of the shipping lane. But it is still within the area that is accessible where any risk to the vessel will be minimal. There have been many third party studies that have been done to compare the two sites.

These studies were done by internationally reputable companies based in the United Kingdom etc. All of these studies show that if you go further down the channel to Nigerdock, the risk to the vessel is extremely high.

The damage you will do to the shipping activities is also very high because you have to shutdown the shipping harbour and the conditions under which you can move the vessel are very limited so because you are moving in a narrow channel and because there are lots of activities around you as you go towards the Nigerdock facility, you have to do that under conditions where there is very low wind, there is very low wave action and obviously there is no other traffic in the shipping business. Now this is not to say that LADOL is the only location but to say that it is the optimum location and this is not to say that there are other complementary activities that should be done in other locations.

If you look at it from a third part perspective, LADOL is optimum for certain things while Nigerdock is suitable for certain things. The regions in Port Harcourt, Bayelsa and Warri are optimum for certain things. If you are now doing vessel integration or vessel destruction in LADOL for example, you cannot have a steel mill in LADOL because we do not have the direct gas supply.

So it will make sense if you set up a steel mill in regions such as Port Harcourt, Bayelsa and Warri that have gas supply and that will create 10,000-20, 000 jobs as a result of activities going on here.

This is not about zero some game it about how to create more composite effect if we recognise the advantages of certain locations and we play to the advantages of those locations. Before we set up this facility, we conducted a pre-work FPSO simulation test in which we had to travel to Korea and the United Kingdom with an eight-man team from the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) which was conducted with CARES of the United Kingdom. Even with the current draught that we have, we can bring in the FPSO into LADOL. The result of the test shows that from the fairway buoy, which is at LADOL, it has been established that the FPSO can move in safely.

What is the cost of this new project or is it part of the $500million ?

The vessel integration will cost $350million. We have already invested from the LADOL side $70 million and that investment is directly for building the facility.

What is your projection for the employment of Nigerians?

The whole drive of this project is the employment of Nigerians. One other thing you have to be aware of is the multiplier effect when you have a project like this. So we are estimating that we are going to create 5,000 jobs inside LADO 15, 000 jobs outside of LADOL and you get that 15, 000 from other range of thing such as the fabrication facilities.

What are the prospects of the onshore Egina FPSO integration?

Right now one of the challenges we have with the local content implementation is that because most of the FPSOs are being integrated outside Nigeria, what this means is that any fabrication we do inside Nigeria will have to be towed to the outside location; may in Korea, Europe or somewhere in the United States and you know that that is an astronomical cost to tow such facility over such distance. So there is no economic incentive for indigenous or foreign investors to come in and build massive fabrication facilities and when you build, you majore and tow it to Korea.

To tow even a small barge from Europe to Nigeria will cost more than $500, 000 and we are talking of towing a massive facility such as a majore. What that means is that we need a facility in Nigeria where we can berth an FPSO. That is even not a problem. What is needed to be done is to identify an optimum location and secondly finding who will finance the building of the facility. But if we can berth the FPSO in Nigeria, all the fabrications will be done here economically because it is now going to be integrated here. There is more economic rationale as against when you will fabricate and tow it to outside location.

What you are now telling the investors is that if you fabricate outside here, you will now have to tow the majore to Nigeria and integrate it. Integration basically means you pick up the majore, you put it on the FPSO. It is a lot more complicated than that but that is the simplest way to explain it, but effectively you need heavy cranes and the expertise of an international company such as Samsung to carryout such an operation. Integration has never been done in Africa onshore.

What has been done it to integrate it offshore and this is partial integration. So if you are telling the entire world that the integration will be done in Nigeria, you are also sending a message that the fabrication has to be done here and that is one of the key things that will take Nigeria from 10 percent to 70 percent local content implementation and the reason we can be sure of that is that it worked in Norway, Russia and Brazil. It also worked in Korea, which does not have oil and gas yet she has about five massive fabrication facilities.

Source: Egina FPSO Integration: Nigeria set to achieve 70% Local Content

[scholarman]

University of Edinburgh offers Global Undergraduate Maths Scholarships for international students in UK. Applicants should have applied through the University and Colleges Admission Service (UCAS) and been offered a place at the University of Edinburgh by the scholarship closing date of 1st April 2014. The scholarships are worth £1,000 per year and tenable for the duration of the programme of study, subject to satisfactory progress. The application deadline is 1 April 2014.

Study Subject (s): Scholarships are provided in the field of maths at University of Edinburgh in UK.

Course Level: Scholarships are available for pursuing undergraduate degree level at University of Edinburgh in UK.

Scholarship Provider: University of Edinburgh in UK

Scholarship can be taken at: UK

Eligibility: -This scholarship is competitive and based on academic merit.

-It is awarded to applicants from countries outside the European Union those who are accepted for full-time admission to an undergraduate Mathematics degree programme at the University.  -The scholarship is not available to students already on programme.

-Applicants should have applied through the University and Colleges Admission Service (UCAS) and been offered a place at the University of Edinburgh by the scholarship closing date of 1 April 2014.

Scholarship Open for International Students: International Students (outside the European Union) can apply for these scholarships.

Scholarship Description: Scholarships are offered to international students of outstanding ability from outside the European Union. A number of scholarships are offered to Mathematics students of outstanding ability from countries outside the European Union. The scholarships are worth £1,000 per year and tenable for the duration of the programme of study, subject to satisfactory progress. Scholarship cheques are handed to the winners at an award ceremony at the beginning of the academic session.

Number of award(s): A number of scholarships will be offered.

Duration of award(s): Scholarships will be offered for the duration of the programme of study.

What does it cover? The scholarships are worth £1,000 per year and tenable for the duration of the programme of study, subject to satisfactory progress.

Selection criteria: This scholarship is competitive and based on the academic merit.

Notification: A University of Edinburgh Selection Committee will meet in May 2014 to select the scholarship winners. The names will be announced in late May 2014.

How to Apply: The mode of applying is online.

Scholarship Application Deadline: The application deadline is 1st April 2014.

Further Official Scholarship Information and Application

Source: 2014 Edinburgh Global Undergraduate Maths Scholarships for International Students in UK