FOUR - MEMBER FEMALE ROBBERY GANG ARRESTED!

A four women robbery squad have been arrested by Police in Kumasi , Ghana after they robbed a taxi driver of his day’s sales.

Three were picked up by police in the metropolis after police interrogation smoked out their location from the first member, who was arrested just after the act.
The four have been identified as Agnes Darkoaa, a.k.a Maame Yaa or Last Killer, Ernestina Amponsah a.k.a. Akosua Frimpomaa, Mavis Addo a.k.a. Maame Konadu and Sally Sarpong a.k.a. Maame Serwaa. The four are reported to have robbed the taxi driver in Kumasi.

Police said the suspects at about 11:30pm on Wednesday hired the taxi driver, Kwadwo Obeng who was in charge of a Toyota Echo Taxi cab with registration number AW 6005-12. They hired him from Asafo roundabout and asked him to take them to Afful Nkwanta in Kumasi.

At Afful Nkwanta, the driver was re-directed to New Oxford International School behind Anwiam Clinic near the NDC Regional Office where Agnes Darkoaa who was in the front passenger seat pulled a knife. She was said to have turned off the engine, removed the ignition key and ordered the driver to surrender all valuables on him including cash sales.

The three accomplices were said to have assisted in ransacking the pockets of the victim and robbed him of an unspecified amount of daily sales and a Huawei mobile phone. The driver was said to have raised an alarm and a three male congregational members ran after the then fleeing female robbers and managed to arrest Sally Sarpong.

A police patrol team led by the investigator on duty later traced the three accomplices to Ahinsan Methodist Church area also in Kumasi in another taxi escaping and they were subsequently rounded up. A search on them led to the retrieval of GhȻ88 apart from GhȻ57 retrieved from Sally Sarpong, summing up a total cash exhibit of G GhȻ145.

The Huawei cellphone and a Samsung T-Mobile phone suspected to have been stolen were also retrieved from the suspects.

FOUR MEMBER FEMALE ROBBERY GANG ARRESTED!

A four member female robbery squad have been arrested by Police in Kamasi, Ghana after they robbed a taxi driver of his day’s sales.

Three were picked up by police in the metropolis after police interrogation smoked out their location from the first member, who was arrested just after the act.
The four have been identified as Agnes Darkoaa, a.k.a Maame Yaa or Last Killer, Ernestina Amponsah a.k.a. Akosua Frimpomaa, Mavis Addo a.k.a. Maame Konadu and Sally Sarpong a.k.a. Maame Serwaa. The four are reported to have robbed the taxi driver in Kumasi Wednesday night.

Police said the suspects at about 11:30pm on Wednesday hired the taxi driver, Kwadwo Obeng who was in charge of a Toyota Echo Taxi cab with registration number AW 6005-12. They hired him from Asafo roundabout and asked him to take them to Afful Nkwanta in Kumasi.

At Afful Nkwanta, the driver was re-directed to New Oxford International School behind Anwiam Clinic near the NDC Regional Office where Agnes Darkoaa who was in the front passenger seat pulled a knife. She was said to have turned off the engine, removed the ignition key and ordered the driver to surrender all valuables on him including cash sales.

The three accomplices were said to have assisted in ransacking the pockets of the victim and robbed him of an unspecified amount of daily sales and a Huawei mobile phone. The driver was said to have raised an alarm and a three male congregational members ran after the then fleeing female robbers and managed to arrest Sally Sarpong.

A police patrol team led by the investigator on duty later traced the three accomplices to Ahinsan Methodist Church area also in Kumasi in another taxi escaping and they were subsequently rounded up. A search on them led to the retrieval of GhȻ88 apart from GhȻ57 retrieved from Sally Sarpong, summing up a total cash exhibit of G GhȻ145.

The Huawei cellphone and a Samsung T-Mobile phone suspected to have been stolen were also retrieved from the suspects.

NIECE OPENLY 'REMOVES' TWINS FROM DEAD PREGNANT AUNT REJECTED AT HOSPITAL

A brave niece of one Mrs Koumate Monique , a Cameroonian woman pregnant with twins who passed away when she was denied medical attention at the government hospital , shocked bystanders when she openly with a  razor blade performed 'cesarean section'  to  remove the twins from the belly of her late aunt.

She died at the gates of one of the main public hospitals of the city Douala (Hopital la Quintinie) when she was turned back because she had no money. Miraculously the babies in her womb were still alive.

The plea of the niece of the deceased for the lives of the babies be saved through immediate medical intervention, that she would pay for the intervention later on was all to no avail.

The mourning niece, alone with her deceased aunt and the babies moving in the womb, felt she was obliged to operate her aunt herself. She bought a blade in a shop close by, and in the midst of an amazed crowd cut the womb of the dead woman, in an attempt to save the babies.

One of the twins came out dead. The other was still breathing but some minutes later on died.

In recent weeks/months, there has been a huge number of people dying at the gates of cameroonian public hospitals, because they did not have the money to be taken care of.

71 FEMALE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COLLEGE STUDENTS HOSPITALIZED FOR FOOD POISONING

Not less than 71 female students of Government Girls Secondary School, Kalgo, Kebbi State have been hospitalised as a result of food poisoning. The Principal of the school, Hajiya Gwamma Sakaba, confirmed that the contaminated food was from vendors selling food within the school premises.

She said immediately the incident occurred, the authorities alerted the local government sole administrator, officials of both the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health to investigate the matter.

“The students just went on break and later all of them started complaining of stomach pain while some of them collapsed. We quickly informed the officials of the Ministry of Health who visited the school and took the sample of the food for testing as well as the blood of the victims.

They discovered that it was poisoning caused by the palm oil used to cook the food.” The Sole Administrator of Kalgo Local Government Area, Alhaji Musa Hassan, confirmed this in an interview with journalists at his residence at the weekend.

Hassan said that the food vendor and the palm oil seller had been arrested by the police. He explained that the condition of three of the 71 students was more critical than others. According to him, the Deputy Governor, Ismail Yombe, has directed that the students be treated at Sayahya Hospital, Birnin Kebbi.

The sole administrator added that no life was lost due to the immediate action taken by government to save the lives of the students. He said: “When the incident happened on Thursday, we took them to primary health care and they were given treatment. Some of them became well but the others are still in the hospital.” Hassan added that the students ate pasta but the poison came through the palm oil used to cook the food.

The case had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Birnin-Kebbi.

LEKKI GARDENS :AMBODE SACKS BUILDING CONTROL AGENCY BOSS, THREE OTHERS

Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode today,March 14,2016 , dismissed the General Manager of the Building Control Agency (LASBCA) Engr. Adeigbe Olusola, subsequent upon findings on the Lekki Gardens building collapse.

Also approved was the dismissal of the Head of Inspection and Quality Control in the Agency, Adeoye Thomas Adeyemi, the Zonal District Officer in the Agency, Dosunmu Gbadebo, while the Zonal Head of Eti-Osa West of the Agency, Mrs. Akinde Adenike Sherifat was compulsorily retired from the Civil Service.

In a statement signed by Lagos State Head of Service, Mrs. Olabowale Ademola, stated that the affected officers were dismissed for negligence, which according to him, is an act of misconduct under the Public Service Rule 040401. Rule 040401 of the Public Service act of misconduct states inter alia: “a willful act of omission or general misconduct to the scandal of the pubic or to the prejudice of discipline and proper administration of the State Government” should be visited with dismissal from the Public Service in line with the Public Service Rule 040503.

The Head of Service said the disciplinary measure was the outcome of the recommendations of the Personnel Management Board to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, who was personally grieved by the high number of fatalities that occurred as a result of the building collapse. She also warned public officials, private building owners or contractors who violate or subvert building regulations that it would no longer be business as usual, saying that the dismissal of the officers will serve as a wake-up call to public servants.

“It is also a clarion call to them to be alive to their responsibilities as any act of negligence will face sanctions, while hardworking officers will be rewarded appropriately,” the Head of Service said. It would be recalled that on Tuesday, March 8, 2016, a building under construction at Lekki Gardens, Ikusenla Road, Ikate Elegushi, collapsed as a result of which many people died, and the State Government immediately mobilised all its rescue team comprising the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS), Rapid Response Squad (RRS), Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI), among others, which led to the successful rescue of over 15 persons alive.

Intercellular Nigeria Partners Huawei for Efficiency

On the side of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Spain, Huawei held a signing ceremony with Intercellular Nigeria Limited a foremost and indigenous telecommunications company in Nigeria. At the ceremony, the CEO of Intercellular, Mr Emad Sukker announced a joint LTE 4G transformation of the former CDMA network and its plans for rapid expansion to provide high quality telecommunication services to Nigerians. With this alliance, Huawei will deploy an 800MHz LTE network to help Intercellular meet the strategic and service demands of the Nigerian market.

Depending on its frequency portfolio of the 800MHz and 3.5GHz spectrum, Intercellular intends to provide services to Nigerians with the most advanced communications technologies available today, hence its partnership with Huawei.

Mr Sukker explained how Intercellular chose its strategic alliance. "Huawei is both the world's leading supplier of LTE devices and also the most trustworthy partner. This LTE collaboration will help Intercellular accelerate our LTE transformation and give our people better and faster network services."

In response, Mr An Jian, President of Huawei Global Wireless Networks Marketing and Solutions, said, "As a leading global ICT solutions provider, Huawei is always committed to building a better connected world. Because customers are our priority, we propose network construction principles centered on user experience.

At the same time, Huawei embraces an attitude of open cooperation with operators to help them make efficient investments and build a speedy, simple, and smart network that achieves the best E2E network experience. Huawei's products and services now serve over 170 countries and regions worldwide, with nearly a third of the world's population using the network services we provide."

Mr Feng Weixiong spoke of Huawei’s presence in Nigeria. "We aim to provide the most competitive network services and actively promote LTE to keep up with the increasing standard of communication demanded by the Nigerian people. Huawei has always been the preferred partner of Nigerian operators. We have carried out large-scale deployment of 20,000 base stations, witnessed the increase in the Nigerian mobile user base from 27,000 to 117 million, and contributed to an explosion in mobile penetration rate from 0.02% to 83.7%. We work hand-in-hand with operators to promote the rapid development of the Nigerian telecommunications market. As users demand a ROADS experience and global telecommunications undergoes digital transformation, LTE in Nigeria is the next step in accelerated market development where Huawei will be the strategic partner of choice."

The cooperation between Intercellular and Huawei will further promote LTE development in the Nigerian market with construction of an experience-centric LTE network to provide the best online experience for Nigerian users. Intercellular in this cooperation benefits from faster commercial LTE broadband development and transformation.

According to Mr Sukker, “There are many surveys globally that indicate a positive correlation between a country’s GDP and broadband penetration. At Intercellular, we believe that for Nigeria, the pervasive penetration of broadband will strengthen activities of individuals and MSME’s enabling them to expand their craft and services to a global audience. As a corporate citizen of Nigeria, Intercellular will continue to invest in advanced technologies that will empower Nigerians in their quest to achieve their aspirations and dreams’’.

Mr Sukker also made public the company’s intention to launch its services as early as the second quarter of 2016 in key strategic cities across the country.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE BARFINDERNAIJA APP... the location based business finder

The BarFinderNaija app was  recently launched to offer Nigerians an organized directory/platform for lifestyle and socializing in Nigeria – more than just a list with the business name and address the app introduces the use of LBS (location-based-services) leading to exponential changes as to how businesses listed can engage and interact with their customers.

According to Mrs Florence Atunwa Olumodimu the force behind BarFinderNaija
"This is an initiative that integrates my passion for entrepreneurship, social networking and information technology. The early days of this indigenous app development saw it being selected for 3 months incubation at IdeaHub Nigeria located in Yaba. This further fuelled my determination to bring the initiative to life."

With the introduction of BarFinderNaija App, we have been able to aggregate outlets and services in the sector through real time engaging activities with the target on a virtual platform elevating word-of-mouth recommendation and social media interactions to the next level while guaranteeing that the establishments with online real-estate on the platform are found by many more people than those who have been there before or passed by in person. The winners of tomorrow will be the businesses that embrace technology while enhancing and exceeding customer expectations and going beyond the point of encounter.

These businesses will be successful because they are the ones who are the early adopters of technology and ready to invest for the long-term through recognizing that service fulfillment not only promotes growth of their customer base but also retains existing customers while impacting positively on their revenues. There is enormous potential if these establishments are able to reach more consumers using technology. That’s where BarFinderNaija comes into the picture – the possibilities are endless.

Apart from the fact that listing your business in BarFinderNaija (an online directory) will increase the amount of exposure you business gets, it is also a very effective way to directly target potential customers. BarFinderNaija makes it easy for online users to find and discover something they want when they want it.
Another reason why you should consider listing has to do with your return on investment, or ROI. Since the potential benefits of getting increased traffic are great compared to if you rely on only people whom current customers. Lastly, you want to keep your brand and business name in the minds of customers at all times, which is something else that an online directory can help with.

The BarFinderNaija app is available in Google Playstore, BlackBerryWorld and can be accessed through the web applicationwww.barfindernaija.com.

There are over 200,000 recreational facilities from low income to super premium in Nigeria. A few of the premium and super premium establishments have attempted putting in place simple systems for engaging patrons who visit their outlets but an enormous gap still remains in the industry – BarFinderNaija is positioned to fill this GAP. Today word-of-mouth recommendation, social media interactions and chance passing in front of establishments only gets footfall in a few establishments.
When consumers were asked what they trust more - an advertisement or a friend’s referral? An overwhelming majority selected a friend’s recommendation/referral. Its time for businesses to seize the power of today's most powerful marketing tool – WORD-OF-MOUTH in combination with the internet marketing and improved infrastructure arising from government initiatives, arrival of wireless access technologies and lower tariffs. According to Nielsen, 92 percent of consumers report that a word of mouth (WOM) recommendation is the top reason they buy a product or service.

With the global explosion of commercial activities on the internet in the last few years, the internet is rapidly becoming a potential outlet for self-expression and self employment for people everywhere in the world. In our country, more and more people use the Internet than ever before, with more people going online for the first time every single day in Nigeria. As at February 2015, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) stated that the number of Internet users on the country’s telecoms networks had increased to 83,362,814. Close to 50% of the Nigerian population now have access to internet in very major city through PCs and mobile phones.

Millions in Nigeria embrace Facebook on mobile to share and connect with others. Almost all these people are coming to Facebook on a mobile device: 100% of Nigerian monthly users are active on mobile as are 95% of Kenya’s monthly users. (Source: Facebook’s Key Statistics for 2015 Q2). The Facebook data shows that 100 percent of its 15 million active monthly users in Nigeria do so on their mobile phones, while 95 percent of the 4.5 million Kenyan monthly users work the social network from their mobile. Facebook’s active user population in Africa has grown 20% to 120 million in June 2015 from 100 million in September 2014. More than 80% of these people access Facebook from their mobile phones. Currently, 60% of all Internet users in Africa are active on Facebook.

The data emphasises the growing mobile-first trend in the digital services niche in Africa, where most users rely on 3G connectivity offered as add-ons to GSM call services. According to Nunu Ntshingila, Head of Africa at Facebook, “Mobile is not a trend; it’s the fastest adoption of disruptive technology in history of communication and  it’s also an incredibly personal device regardless of where a person lives or how they connect, and businesses need to reach people where they are, not where they were, in an authentic, personal and relevant way.”

Complementary data released by Nigeria’s National Communication Commission back in April showed that the number of Nigerians accessing the internet using their mobile phones had hit 80.3 million. The liberation in internet access and mobile technology has created the perfect storm for an explosion in internet marketing and activities in Nigeria. Now is the time to expose your business on the internet as opportunities open up for enriching engagement and conversations with the discerning consumers that are increasingly being found online.