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Nigerians Abroad Begins A Campaign to Show Up Weak Development in Homeland
Mitchellville, Maryland June 20th, 2008. Nigerians abroad in the international community have began an all out campaign championed by a conglomerate organization called the All Nigeria American Congress (ANAC) to help support the weak development of their homeland in the advent of supplus energy income from increase oil prices. The group in a press release by the organization's Secretary General, Mr. Colin Atobajeun of Allison, Texas and newly elected Chairman Akeem Bello of North Carolina, has called on all Nigerians currently residing in the International community to take up their responsibilities to nominate to the ANAC Board of Trustees able and qualified Nigerians to fill numerous committees that serve as advisory and policy development bodies to our organization and ultimately for representation to leadership in Nigeria. We would like to take this opportunity to send this special invitation to all patriotic Nigerians in the International Community to send in their request to participate in these numerous committees in areas of their specialty or where an individual has been recognized, garnered exposure, certified, participated in such development conferences, qualified international standard representation in such fields in which such participants expert opinion would be beneficial for the overall development of Nigerians in the international community and Nigeria itself. The group are requesting for participants to fill positions in the following committees: 1. Energy Development (Electric Power) 2. Energy Development (Oil and Gas) 3. Agriculture 4. Health care 5. Social Security and Welfare Development 6. Business Commerce Development 7. Housing and Urban Planning and Development 8. Science and Technology (Mechanical) 9. Science and Technology (Information Technology/Electronics) 10. Education 11. Arts and Culture 12. Law, Order, Security and Intelligence Development 13. Political Action Committee 14. Ethics/Congressional Rules Committee 15. Public Affairs and Communications 16. Finance and Fund Raising Committee 17. Aviation and Aerospace Development 18. Tourism and Nigerian Image Development The goal of the group is to gather experts who have had much exposure in the international communities to begin a formidable body to advice and support the weak, and corrupt system that have hindered their homeland. In an earlier statement the newly elected Chairman of the Group, Mr. Akeem Bello, vowed to unite and bring to bare the huge potentials in the estimated 30 million Nigerian descendants and migrants scattered all over the globe in search of economic pastures. Many of whom are doctors, engineers and very qualified professionals who have fled the corrupt, tribal and law and order starved system that have dominated their homeland. The group is requesting names, address, contact information (preferably, your resume), the committees you would like to participate in as listed above, a five to seven (5-7) sentenced letter listing your qualifications. In your communiqué, please outline other civic positions you have held, and what you plan to provide for the development of this aspect within our international Nigerian community, and back home in Nigeria. Please address all correspondence to Secretary General at secretarygeneral@anacweb.org, or attention Secretary General ANAC to memberservices@anacweb.org The group web blog is at www.anacweb.org Deluge adds to Texas' woes AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Another round of heavy rain drenched parts of eastern Texas early Friday, flooding roads and stranding at least one driver on top of his truck, authorities said. The overnight deluge also forced road closures in Rusk, Smith, Leon, Panola and Van Zandt counties, officials said. Flooding washed out a bridge in Anderson County, a dispatcher said. With rivers and lakes filled already filled to the brim, emergency officials braced for more of the flooding that has severely damaged or destroyed 1,000 homes and killed 13 people. State emergency management chief Jack Colley said all of Texas' major river basins are at flood stage, the first time that has happened since 1957. Major flooding was forecast on the Guadalupe River in Victoria and Calhoun counties, where it was expected to crest near Bloomington at just over 27 feet early Saturday. Flood stage is 20 feet. "Mostly this time of year we're fighting wildfires ... The problem with this is, the water won't go away," he said Thursday. Other areas of concern include the Brazos, Sabine and Trinity rivers and Nueces River near Corpus Christi, Colley said. Search teams going door to door found a man dead late Thursday in a motel room in Coffeyville, Kansas, city clerk Cindy Price said. The cause of the man's death wasn't immediately available, but authorities said he apparently had ignored warnings to leave the southeast Kansas town, where a flash flood triggered a 42,000-gallon crude oil spill into the Verdigris River. Ross Adkins, a spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, said about 6 inches of water was expected to go over the spillway next to Denison Dam in the next couple of days, which will keep the river full but was not expected to cause flooding. The last major flood reached nearly 5 feet over the spillway in 1990. Early Friday, Lake Texoma's level topped 639 feet, well past its normal elevation of 619 feet and just shy of the top of the spillway -- 640 feet, according to the corps. "It's still rising but right now. We've been able to handle the flows and minimize the threat for downstream flooding," said Ed Rossman, assistant chief of planning for the corps. To the south, storms that began May 23 continued pounding Texas. The National Weather Service said 1 to 3 inches of rain could fall Friday, with heavier amounts in isolated areas. On Thursday night, rainfall amounts in the past 24 hours included 5 inches in coastal Palacios, 2.17 inches at Houston's Hobby Airport and 1.88 in Rockport. Michael Gittinger, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said a series of low-pressure systems that have hovered over Texas for three weeks, combined with moist bands of air from the Gulf of Mexico, have fueled the near-record rainfall. The system is forecast to move northward through Arkansas and toward the East Coast. The affected area covers 49 counties and 48,000 square miles from northern Texas to the Rio Grande Valley, a section roughly the size of the state of Mississippi. Four people have been reported missing, including a 6-year-old boy swept into the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday as strong currents ripped him from his father's arms at the mouth of the Brazos River in Freeport. In Missouri, the body of a 16-year-old girl was found Wednesday night in a submerged sport utility vehicle after she apparently tried to cross a flooded creek. So far, the heaviest flood damage has been in Miami, Oklahoma, where the Neosho River crested at about 29 feet, its highest stage since 1951. The river was not expected to be back within its banks until late Sunday. About 600 homes and businesses were believed damaged, City Manager Mike Spurgeon said. More than 30 roads in the area were still closed Thursday. "We're starting to see an average drop of about a half-inch every hour," Spurgeon said, though he estimated it could take six months to a year to rebuild in the parts of town most heavily damaged. Displaced residents watched and waited, anxious to begin salvaging soggy belongings. Dorena Jackson walked near her neighborhood in Miami, trying to get a glimpse of the home that she waded out of two days ago. "I don't even have a change of clothes," Jackson said. "I lost everything as far as I know." President Bush already has issued federal disaster declarations for numerous counties in Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma, clearing the way for housing assistance and low-interest loans, and more declarations are expected.--AP http://www.cnn.com/ Capital Move From Real Estate to Stock Market TTimes Housing Report Though it fell nearly 150 points Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has been setting record highs in recent weeks, while home sales are at their lowest level in nearly four years. Some experts say real estate's swoon is freeing up money to bolster stocks. That could explain why one of the strongest stock market rallies on record has come at a time when gasoline prices are soaring, the overall economy is slowing and home sales are down. Financial planner Kim Dignum started telling clients about 18 months ago that if they were heavily invested in real estate, it might be time to sell. The housing market in Fort Worth, Texas, where she lives was still going strong. But Dignum didn't want to push her luck. "As we say in my business, pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered," Dignum says. "It never hurts to take something off the table when you've done well with it." Last summer, Dignum decided to follow her own advice. She sold an office building that she owned and invested the half-million dollars in proceeds in the stock market. That turned out to be a good call. "Let's say it's a very lucky call," she says. "I'm realistic; the market's done extremely well, as we all know." Since last summer, the Standard & Poor's 500 index is up about 20 percent. Meanwhile, real estate, especially housing, has been flat or falling in much of the country. In Portsmouth, N.H., Chris Adams began to rethink his real estate investments last year. The software engineering manager and his wife had bought a couple of condos in 2000 for their retirement nest egg. But maintaining the condos turned out to be more trouble than they wanted, especially after their son was born. And Adams worried about resale value. "Prices seemed to be going down a bit on the condos," he says. So we were starting to get concerned that maybe there would be too many units down the road for us and we wouldn't be able to sell." Luckily, the Adamses found a buyer for one of their condos and put the proceeds into stock mutual funds. Now many investors like them, and Dignum, are fortunate to be riding a wave of cash out of real estate and into the stock market, as investors cash in profits or dodge losses. Money is flowing into U.S. stock funds at the fastest rate in three years. Senior Economist Michael Swanson of Wells Fargo says that for better or worse, money tends to roll uphill to whichever investments have done well lately. "The stock market's been doing well, so people want to get in while the action's good," Swanson says. "The housing market has been doing poorly. So there's kind of a two-edged boomerang working there." That wave of new cash is one of the factors — along with strong profits and a flurry of mergers — pumping up the stock market. At the same time, an exodus of investors' money is taking air out of the real estate bubble. U.S. economist Nigel Gault of Global Insight says it's just the opposite of what we saw a few years ago. "If you go back to the early part of this decade, the stock market at one point was almost in free fall and real estate was the investment of choice," Gault says. "It took us many years to move from that to the present situation, where real estate is out and equities are in." Of course, money can only slosh from one sector into another for so long before the tide starts to reverse again. Dignum says there comes a point in any rally when the next big thing becomes the last big thing, and investors who arrive late tend to get left high and dry. "Unfortunately, that's what so many investors do," Dignum says. "They'll call and say, 'My golf buddy had the greatest thing in the world, and it's up 40 percent. Don't we want to get some?' No, we certainly don't," she says, with a laugh. New Hampshire investor Chris Adams says he doesn't expect to get back in the landlord business any time soon. Whatever risk the stock market might have, he says, mutual funds don't call in the middle of the night to complain that the toilet is backed up. Large Area in Los Angeles on Fire TTimes World Report Firefighters said they were making progress in a wildfire fight that is burning across brush-covered hills in the city's Griffith Park on Tuesday, triggering evacuations of homes and some of the city's most famous landmarks. Flames raced across ridges in the evening as the fire drew closer to homes and the Griffith Observatory.Interim Fire Chief Douglas L. Barry said late Tuesday that fire had "laid down" and that authorities hoped an aggressive attack in the morning would bring it under control sometime Wednesday. Late Tuesday, authorities called for a mandatory evacuation of homes that sit along the park's southern edge as the fire burned out of control. Helicopters flew dangerous water-dropping missions after dark and no homes were lost by late evening. Police officers drove through the parkside Los Feliz district ordering people out. "You need to evacuate, you need to evacuate your houses immediately," one said. "The fire is coming toward the neighborhood." More than 200 residents were expected at an evacuation center, said fire Capt. Antoine McNight. Rangers evacuated the park's Vermont Canyon area, which includes the Los Angeles Zoo, two golf facilities, a merry-go-round and school, said Jane Kolb, a city Department of Recreation and Parks spokeswoman. Nearly 1,300 utility customers lost power in Los Feliz when flames downed power lines, said Department of Water and Power spokesman Joe Ramallo. The blaze erupted on the second day of a heat spell. The National Weather Service said downtown hit 97 degrees, 23 degrees above normal, tying the record for the date. In 1933 the area was the site of one of nation's worst wildland firefighting tragedies, a blaze that killed 25 firefighters. London reshapes the cookie cutter Mon, March 20, 2006 A tale of two suburbs By RANDY RICHMOND, FREE PRESS REPORTER The city is developing a demonstration project, perhaps the first in Canada, to make suburban neighbourhoods friendlier. The brave new world for Londoners was supposed to start on a rolling field on the southwest corner of Southdale and Colonel Talbot roads. Talbot Village was going to be a modern day Old South. The protruding garages of the modern day suburban houses were to be replaced by porches. The garages would be off rear lanes and hidden from the street. The streets themselves would be narrower. The effect would be of an old city neighbourhood from the 1930s, with the same friendly feel Read more http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2006/03/20/1496346-sun.html Bas Jan Ader: All is Falling 28 April - 02 July 2006 Admission free Press View: Thursday 27 April, 4.00 " 6.30pm 5.00pm Screening and Talk: He is always somewhere else (2006) The UK premiere of René Daalders new documentary on the life and work of Bas Jan Ader, introduced by the director. Camden Arts Centre is proud to present the first solo show in a UK public gallery of the work of Dutch artist Bas Jan Ader (1942 - 1975). Ader lived and worked in California until his mysterious disappearance whilst attempting to cross the Atlantic single-handed for his final work In Search of the Miraculous, which remains unfinished. This exhibition will include major works as well as lesser-known pieces, with films and photography. It offers a unique opportunity to consider this important and influential body of work as a whole. As a long-time fan, I have still yet to see many of the works in reality. Tacita Deans previewed highlight of 2006, The Independent on Sunday Ader was influenced by the conceptual and performance-based art scene of the West Coast including artists such as Bruce Nauman and Chris Burden. His own work is characterised by a fusion of the melancholic, the romantic and the humorous. Themes of loss and heroic failure are never far from the surface. The fall is a recurring motif, documented in the short films Fall I and Fall II (1970 & 1971). In the latter, the artist is shown riding his bicycle into a canal in Amsterdam holding a bunch of flowers. In another well-known work from this period, the 16mm silent film Im too sad to tell you, Ader filmed himself weeping in a deliberately ambiguous gesture, the reason for his sadness never revealed. Ader questioned the role of the artist in society and the relationship between European and American artistic traditions. He made a number of actions, documented in films and photographs, where he references the Dutch painter Mondrian, known for his search for harmony through a reduction of visual means. The exhibition comes at a time of renewed interest in Bas Jan Aders work following inclusion in major group shows atTate Modern and the Barbican recently. A collaboration with the Museum BoijmansVan Beuningen Rotterdam, this exhibition will coincide with the publication, bythe Boijmans, of a comprehensive monograph of the artist, in which Aderscontinuing relevance for a younger generation of artists will also be discussed. Biography: Bas Jan Ader was born in Winschoten, The Netherlands, in 1942. He settled in California in 1963, where he continued to live and work until his death. Between 1970 and 1975 he taught at art colleges and exhibited at Jack Goldsteins, Los Angeles; Prospect 71 "Projection, Düsseldorf (1971) and Art and Project, Amsterdam. In July 1975, Ader set sail from Cape Cod bound for Falmouth, England, the voyage part of a three-part work titled In Search of the Miraculous. Radio contact ceased after 3 weeks and in April the following year Aders craft, Ocean Wave, was found off the Irish coast. Solo exhibitions since 1975 include: Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1988); Migrateurs, ARC Musée dArt Moderne de la Ville de Paris (1994); Patrick Painter Editions, Vancouver (1995); The Art Gallery, University of California, Irvine (1999). Camden Arts Centre is a venue for contemporary visual art and education, where ideas are made visible and people of all ages and abilities can engage in the creative process of making art. Our pioneering and varied programme of artist-led courses and other education activities has gained an international reputation as a model of good practice. We are known as a forward-thinking organisation where artists and others can see, make and talk about art. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Opening times: Tuesday - Sunday: 10am-6pm Wednesdays late 10am"9pm Closed Mondays and Bank Holidays T: +44 (0)20 7472 5500 F: +44 (0)20 7472 5501 Camden Arts Centre, Arkwright Road London NW3 6DG Finchley Road/Hampstead Tube www.camdenartscentre.org Funded by Arts Council England and Camden Council Supported by the Royal Netherlands Embassy To confirm your attendance at the screening on 27 April or for further press information and images contact Clare Roebuck Email: clare.roebuck@camdenartscentre.org Tel: +44 (0)20 7472 5511 |
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