US lashes out at Nigeria over pardon of corrupt Alamieyeseigha

The united Sates has criticized Nigeria for granting a pardon to Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, former governor of Bayelsa and political associate of the president.
In a Twitter post on Friday, the US embassy in Nigeria said it was "deeply disappointed" over the pardon to Alamieyeseigha, impeached and then sent to jail during the Obasanjo presidency for stealing billions of his people's money.

Nigeria spends only $10bn annually on infrastructure

 By Seyi Ilubanwo

Nigeria spends $10 billion (N1.58 trillion) on infrastructure annually, said Adekunle Oyinloye, managing director, Infrastructure Bank. This figure, according to him, represents four percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP) which stood at $250 billion.
Oyinloye, who disclosed this in Lagos on Thursday at a forum of the Business Club Ikeja (BCI) while delivering a lecture on ‘A Roadmap for the Transformation of Nigerian Infrastructure for Enhanced Productivity’ said this figure was small when compared with China which spent 12 percent of its GDP of about $7.3 trillion on infrastructure annually.

How Competition Makes You Better: 4 Lessons from Picasso and Matisse

Henri Matisse (left) and Pablo Picasso

 

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Pablo Picasso couldn’t have created his masterpiece Les Demoiselles d’Avignon in 1907 if it weren’t for the looming presence of Henri Matisse.
Picasso was angered, frustrated and inspired by the French artist’s revolutionary style and the way he deserted classical artistic norms. He was angered because he wanted to be the one to break the mold Matisse was hammering away at, frustrated because he struggled to find his own, unique voice in what was to become modern art, and inspired by Matisse’s monumental courage. It was Matisse, after all, who was one of the first modern artists to put his chin out and produce “ugly” art, to the chagrin and bemusement of critics and audiences.

24 Ways to Save an Hour

Daylight Savings is stealing an hour every day. Here are 24 ways to get more done with the time you have left.

 

Since you need to economize your time, who better than best selling author of Managing For Dummies Peter Economy (his real name) to help make your life more efficient and productive. Below are Economy's best tips, mixed with some of my own. Share some of yours in the comments if you like.
1. Batch your errands--hit the post office, bank, and market in one trip, not three.
2. Turn off email and text alerts on your smartphone so you're not interrupted.
3. Set aside one specific hour each day for returning client calls and emails.
4. Budget limited time for Farmville, Angry Birds, and Mafia Wars.
5. Practice the 3 D's of management--delegate, delegate, delegate.

115 million Nigerians depend solely on fuel wood for cooking

                                                                                                                                                     

The International Centre for Energy and Environmental Development (ICEED), a non-governmental organisation, as estimated that about 72 per cent of Nigeria’s population depend solely on firewood for cooking. Mr Ewah Eleri, ICEED's Executive Director, gave the estimate on Tuesday in an interview. He said that access to sustainable modern, affordable and reliable energy services was a fundamental prerequisite for poverty reduction and sustainable human development.

He said that energy services had impacted on all aspects of people’s lives and livelihoods, adding that the lack of access to it constrained people to a life of poverty.

4 Key Things Great Strategic Thinkers Do

Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School, describes the four keys to great strategic decision making.

 

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To succeed as an entrepreneur, you know you have to be a bit of a visionary. You also, especially in your business's early days, need to be a bit of a sales person, programmer, PR expert, internal travel agent, speaker's bureau, and human resources department, to name just a few other chores.
Given all that, can you maybe leave the strategic thinking for later?
Well, no, says Roger Martin, the dean of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. Martin is out promoting a book on the topic that he wrote with the legendary former CEO of Procter & Gamble, A.G. Lafley, called Play to Win: How Strategy Really Works. He blogged on the difference between strategy and execution for Harvard Business Review and is about to start a multi-year research project on the future of democratic capitalism--an inquiry so strategic, it’s practically metaphysical.

Secret to Becoming a Resilient Entrepreneur

This one activity can give you the mental toughness and a will to win that every entrepreneur needs.

shutterstock images

 

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Lately, there have been questions raised about the merits of wrestling as a sport both on the collegiate and international level. While several prominent ex-wrestlers, such as Vladimir Putin and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, have risen to wrestling's defense, I'd like to add the voice of an underrepresented constituency--the poor-to-mediocre high school wrestler. In fact, I owe much of my success in business to the failure and adversity I endured as a high school wrestler.
In case anyone challenges my credentials as a bad wrestler, I humbly share that my record in my first season was 1-10, (there was a vacancy in one opposing team's line-up, so I "won" the forfeit). Today as I lead a company generating more than $100 million in retail sales, I still rely on the lessons I learned fighting off my back.

Starting a Company? 3 Things You Can't Mess Up

Few start-up founders are clear-minded enough about three non-negotiable fundamentals.

By Seyi Ilubanwo

 

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If there is one part of the economy that's booming right now, it's the start-up space.
A recent Wall Street Journal article pointed out that there is such a high demand for start-up funding that even hedge funds, private-equity firms, and sovereign-wealth funds are investing in closely held start-ups.
And yet the failure rate for new ventures remains defiantly high, at around 80 percent. (Most official agencies put the number at about two-thirds, 66 percent or so, but these are based on the failure rate of those start-ups that actually get around to registering with the IRS or other agencies. Anyone involved in the start-up industry knows that very many new ventures fail so quickly they never get around to filing with anyone, thus understating reported statistics.)
Why do so many new ventures fail, even with so much money available? Because few start-up founders are clear-minded enough about three non-negotiable fundamentals:

Banks dump commercial papers over CBN’s reporting policy

By Seyi Ilubanwo

The implementation of the new policy on the use of commercial paper (CP) and bankers’ acceptance (BA) in Nigeria , the monthly transaction value of CP has fallen to about N2 billion, down from about N190 billion before the policy became effective.

The new guidelines were introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in November 2009 “in exercise of its statutory powers under Section 33 (1)(b) of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act 2007.” The CBN introduced the new guidelines on CPs and BAs in 2009 but they became effective in January 2011.

Experts say that the new policy became necessary due to the infraction witnessed in the use of CPs and BAs.

5 Tips for Surviving the Shark Tank

If you get an opportunity to pitch your business to investors, following these five principles will help you secure funding for your growth.

 

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At some point, growth businesses need to raise capital. Funding from cash flow and the owners' bank accounts are the best sources but are inherently limited, especially if you have a business that is scaling rapidly. Growth businesses often need to seek outside funding from corporate investment boards, angel investor groups, or VC firms. These investment pitches, or "shark tanks," tend to be short, pressure-filled scenarios, where the best companies rise to the top and the worst companies sink.
In a recently investment meeting of a prominent Midwestern angel group where we observed three companies make their investment pitches.

11 Easy Ways to Be Healthier at Work

Try these simple tweaks to your workday to help you get and stay healthy.

By Seyi Ilubanwo

 

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When it comes to getting healthy, there's the hard stuff and there's the easy stuff.
The hard stuff is the stuff you already know: exercising more and eating less. This post isn't about that.
This post is about the easy stuff--the minor tweaks to a workday that keep you healthy without demanding much.
Enjoy!

1. Take the stairs.

While stair-climbing doesn't consume all that many calories (about 300 if you're average height and weight and climb five flights, five times a day), it does cause your heart to work harder, thereby improving your circulation and your overall health. Quick tip: you burn significantly more energy if you take the steps one at time rather than two at a time.

2. Drink more water.

Even a tiny amount of dehydration can "drain your energy and make you tired," according to the Mayo Clinic. They recommend that men should drink roughly 3 liters (about 13 cups) and women 2.2 liters (about nine cups) of total beverages every day. Coffee and tea counts towards that total. BTW, if you live in the United States bottled water is a rip-off because it's not one iota healthier than tap water.

3. Eat a big breakfast.

Strictly speaking, this is something that you do before you get to work, but it's important enough to keep on the list. Turns out there's some truth to the old saying that you should eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a merchant, and supper like a pauper. Fueling up early doesn't just make certain that you've got energy to see you through the morning, it makes you less likely to need that extra jolt of sugar at about 10:30 a.m.

4. Snack on fruit.

Many offices are awash with cheap, fat-filled pastry like donuts and bear-claws. You're less likely to raid the break-room donut box on a regular basis if you make it easier to snack on fruit. The best fruit for a quick, non-sticky snack at the office are grapes and blueberries. BTW, it's myth that fruit costs more than processed food. A pound of grapes cost about $2.50. A pound of donuts (about eight items) costs almost a dollar more.

5. Have a cup of coffee.

Believe it or not, the scientific consensus is that moderate coffee drinking is good for you.  According to WebMd.com, "a growing body of research shows that coffee drinkers, compared to nondrinkers, are less likely to have type 2 diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and dementia, and have fewer cases of certain cancers, heart rhythm problems, and strokes." Warning: refined sugar and fatty "whitener" nullifies these benefits.

6. Breath more deeply.

People under stress tend to take short gasps rather than long, deep breaths. Over time, the gasping becomes habitual, thereby constantly telling your body that you're under stress, even if nothing particularly stressful is going on. Breathing deeply calms you down but, more importantly, it helps ensure that plenty of oxygen is getting into your lungs and into your blood stream, where (among other things) it helps your brain to work more efficiently.

7. Exercise your eyes.

My dad, who was an optometrist for 30 years, noticed that his patients who did office work often had more eye problems than his patients that worked outside. His research indicated that the muscles that allow your eyes to focus can lose some elasticity if they focus at one distance (like at your screen) for too long. The solution: while working at a screen, periodically stare at something that's far away, like out the window.

8. Stretch regularly.

Your body did not evolve to be well-suited for sitting down for long periods of time. Quite the contrary, the human body evolved so that it's optimized for running around in the woods whacking animals with a stick. Since you're not allowed to run around the office whacking your coworkers with a stick, give your body a break once in a while. Stand up and stretch every half hour or so. Set a timer if you need to.

9. Take a walk after lunch.

A walk after lunch improves your digestion, helps you regulate your blood sugar and increases your mental acuity, according to numerous studies cited on Livestrong.com. It also gives your body a rest from sitting, which is an inherently unnatural act for the human body to perform. As a bonus, conversations that take place while you're walking are more likely to be creative than those that take place when you're surrounded by the same old stuff.

10. Take a power nap.

Lack of sleep is disastrous to your health and numerous studies show that people are more productive at work after taking a quick nap. Even so, napping is still discouraged at most workplaces, which gives you two choices: 1) be so valuable to the success of the firm that nobody would dare to complain, or 2) drive to an empty parking lot somewhere and nap in the front seat.

11. Be more optimistic.

Almost every time I write about optimism, I get an email or a comment from somebody who thinks that it's better to be "realistic." Whatever that means. Here's the reality: there is overwhelming scientific evidence that optimism makes you healthier. What's more, the opposite of optimism--expressing anger and frustration--makes you depressed and less healthy. So smile already!

Nigeria records surplus in exports

By Business Sense 

The Nigeria Bureau of Statistics in it’s fourth quarter report for the year 2012 said the country recorded an increase of 15.5% in the value of exports from N19,440.4 billion in 2011 to N22,446.3 billion in 2012.
According to the report this increase contributed immensely to the visible trade Balance of N16,821.4 billion recorded in 2012, a contrast to the visible trade balance of N 9,547.7 billion as recorded in 2011.
The total value of Nigeria’s external merchandise trade for the fourth quarter 2012, stood at N7, 185.8billion, showing a slight increase of N6.4billion or 0.1% over the previous quarter.
At the end of 2012, Nigeria’s external trade was N 28,071.2 billion. This was 4.3% lower than the corresponding figure of N 29,333.0 billion recorded in 2011.

New Pope Elected: Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Argentina

New Pope Elected: Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Argentina

76 year old Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Buenos Aries in Argentina has been named the 266th Pope. He's the first Latin-American Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, which is the longest running institution in the history of mankind...almost 2,000 years old.

The new Pope was the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina before he was elected to lead the Catholic church. He was ordained for the Jesuits on Dec. 13, 1969. He has chosen the Papal name - Pope Francis 1.

3 Leadership Skills That Trump All Others

Leadership doesn't necessarily come from being the best at your trade. These three skills can make all the difference.

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The first job I accepted after college was with a large home builder in Phoenix. In my first year, the company had been taken private, carved up, and the pieces sold off. During this span of time, I worked for three different companies all while sitting at the same desk.
I stopped buying business cards for a while.
When the dust finally settled, I had managed to tag on with a small group of people who made up the Phoenix office for a California home builder entering the Arizona market.  None of us had the experience to become the division president or CEO, so the "higher-ups" brought in someone from the outside.

8 Promises You Should Make Every Day

Make a difference--at work, in your personal life, and in the lives of others. Say these vows to yourself daily--and then follow through.

 By Seyi Ilubanwo

 

You can be an analytical, data-driven, steely-eyed businessperson all you like, but business is ultimately about people.
That means business is also about emotions: both yours and those of the people you interact with every day.
Want to make a huge difference in your life and in the lives of the people you care about, both professionally and personally?
Say these things to yourself every day--and then vow to follow through on the commitment you make:

I will answer the unasked question.
Maybe they're hesitant. Maybe they're insecure. Maybe they're shy. Whatever the reason, people often ask a different question than the one they really want you to answer.
One employee might ask whether you think he should take a few business classes; what he really wants to know is whether you see him as able to grow in your organization. He hopes you'll say you do and he hopes you'll share the reasons why.
Your husband might ask if you thought the woman at the party was flirting with him; what he really wants to know is if you still think he's flirt-worthy and whether you still find him attractive. He hopes you'll say you do and he'll love when you share the reasons why.
Behind many questions is an unasked question.
Pay attention so you can answer that question, too, because that is the answer the other person doesn't just want, but needs.

I will refuse to wait.
You don't have to wait to be discovered. You don't have to wait for an okay. You don't have to wait for someone else to help you.
You can try to do whatever you want to do. Right now.
You may not succeed. But you don't have to wait.
Don't wait.

I will appreciate the unappreciated.
Some jobs require more effort than skill. Bagging groceries, delivering packages, checking out customers--the tasks are relatively easy. The difference is in the effort.
Do more than say "thanks" to someone who does a thankless job. Smile. Make eye contact. Exchange a kind word.
All around you are people who work hard with little or no recognition. Vow to be the person who recognizes at least one of them every day.
Not only will you give respect, you'll earn the best kind of respect--the respect that comes from making a difference, however fleeting, in another person's life.

I will give latitude instead of direction.
You're in charge. You know what to do. So it's natural to tell your employees what to do and how to do it.
In the process you stifle their creativity and discount their skills and experience.
Letting another person decide how is the best way to show you respect their abilities and trust their judgment.
In a command and control world, latitude is a breath of freedom and is a gift anyone can give
.
I will stop and smell my roses.
You have big plans. You have big goals. You're never satisfied, because satisfaction breeds complacency.
So most of the time you're unhappy because you think more about what you have not achieved, have not done, and do not have.
Take a moment and think about what you do have, professionally and especially personally. At this moment you have more than you once ever thought possible.
Sure, always strive for more but always take a moment to realize that all the things you have, especially your relationships, are more important than anything you want to have.
Unlike a want, what you have isn't a hope, a wish, or a dream. What you already have is real.
And it's awesome. And it's yours.
Appreciate it.

 I will look below the surface.
Sometimes people make mistakes. Sometimes they piss you off.
When that happens it's natural to assume they didn't listen or didn't care. But often there's a deeper reason. They may feel stifled. They may feel they have no control. They may feel frustrated or marginalized or ignored or not cared for.
If you're in charge, whether at work or at home, you may need to deal with the mistake. But then look past the action for the underlying issues.
Anyone can dole out discipline; vow to provide understanding, empathy, and to help another person deal with the larger issue that resulted in the mistake.
After all, you might have caused the issue.

I will make love a verb.
You love your work. When you're working that feeling shows in everything you say and do.
You love your family. When you're with them does that feeling show in everything you say and do?
Hmm.
Love is a feeling, and feelings are often selfish. Turn your feelings into an action. Actively love the people you love. Show them you love them by words and deeds.
When you make love a verb the people you care about know exactly how you feel. Make sure they do.

I will be myself.
You worry about what other people think. Yet no matter how hard you try, you can't be all things to all people.
But you can be as many things as possible to the people you love.
And you can be the best you.
Be yourself. That is the one thing you can do better than anyone else.