Oyinkis Blog

Life for Chiemeriem Benjamin, who had a dream of becoming a banker, has come to a temporary halt as she accidentally killed her childhood friend, Lawrence Oloruntobi, during a minor disagreement.The incident, which took place at Iba area of Lagos, has opened a scary new phase of life for the teenager, who hails from Abia State.Chiemeriem told Vanguard: “Lawrence is my friend; we grew up together and have lived in the same environment from as far back as I can remember.“On that day, I was just not in the mood to talk with him. When I came out in the morning, he tried to make some jokes, which we would ordinarily laughed about. But I told him I was not interestedin such.“I went out later that day and on my way back, I saw him forcing my younger brother to play in a stagnant body of water in front of our compound.“My brother was crying out for help, because he did not want to be dragged into the water. I quickly walked up to Lawrence to stop him. He took it personal...

Lagos - Nigeria is in talks with Russia's state-owned Rosatom to build nuclear power plants, as Africa's most populous nation tries to end of decades of blackouts that has blighted its economy. Africa's biggest economy has no experience in developing and operating nuclear power plants but has a gamma facility and small reactors producing around 30 kilowatts for research, Franklin Erepamo Osaisai, chief executive of the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission said on its website, adding that nuclear power will guarantee long-term energy supply. "We have an intergovernmental agreement with Nigeria, but no concrete decisions have been made," a Rosatom spokesman said. One nuclear power plant costs between $5 billion to $8 billion, a source at the company said. 80 percent of Nigeria's power plants are gas- fired. Rosatom has a contract to build a new plant in Hungary and has agreed to build reactors in India and Kazakhstan. It is also planning to b...

President-elect, Gen Muhammadu Buhari says his incoming government cannot promise the return of missing Chibok girls but that they would do everything within their power to secure their return. He said this in a statement he released today April 13th to commemorate one year of the girls' abduction. The statement below... Today is a time to reflect on the pain and suffering of the victims, their friends and families. Our thoughts and prayers, and that of the whole Nigerian Nation, are with you today. I want to assure all of them, and particularly the parents, that when my new Administration takes office at the end of May, we will do everything we can to defeat Boko Haram. We will act differently from the Government we replace: we hear the anguish of our citizens and intend to respond accordingly. This new approach must also begin with honesty. We do not know if the Chibok girls can be rescued. Their whereabouts remain unknown. As much as I wish to, I cannot pr...

More than 50 of the girls abducted by militant Islamists in Nigeria last year were seen alive three weeks ago, a woman has told the BBC. She saw the girls in the north-eastern Gwoza town before the Boko Haram militants were driven out of there by regional forces. Boko Haram sparked global outrage when it seized more than 219 girls from Chibok town a year ago. The US, China and other foreign powers promised to help find the girls. However, the girls have never been traced, and little has been heard of them since they were taken from their boarding school. The whereabouts of the remaining girls is not clear. 'Big house' Campaign group Bring Back Our Girls organised a silent march in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, on Wednesday to raise public awareness about the abductions. In an open letter, Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai called on Nigeria's authorities and the international community to do more to secure the release of the girls. Boko H...

Port Harcourt – International election observers on Sunday called for the cancellation of the Governorship and House of Assembly elections in Rivers. The leader of African Centre for Leadership Strategies and Development, Mr Humphrey Bekaren, who spoke on behalf of the observers, made the call in Port Harcourt. He said the observers were shocked that INEC disregarded the widely reported violent irregularities to begin the process of declaring results in the state. ‘’ We request all lovers of democracy to join us in calling for the outright cancellation of the phony election. ‘’ Unless this is done, we would have sown the seed that could eventually grow into providing a shade of fear and death over us,’’ he said. According to Bekaren, what happened in Rivers was a far cry from what election should be. ‘’ What we saw did not meet international standard of electioneering, not even the ones set by the Independent N...

As a prominent young Nigerian artiste, Reekado Banks has worked with the cream of the Nigerian music industry including Don Jazzy, Illbliss, Tiwa Savage, Olamide, Korede Bello, Di’Ja and Wale. The story of his rise to prominence however, has not been smooth, as the Mavin Records recording artiste disclosed during a #MySuperStarStory interview. Reekado-Banks Born Solomon Ayoleyi Hanniel, the Ondo State indigene revealed that after informing his parents of his intention to pursue a career in music and getting their blessing, he had to hawk blenders in traffic and work as a manual labourer at a construction site in a bid to earn some money to use to record. He also revealed that at one point, a lecturer at the university told him that he will never make it after preventing him from retaking a test he missed. His turning point came with the Mavin Records audition where he was picked out of over 5,000 hopefuls. The dreadlocked act, now popular for his ballad ...

Hillary Clinton finally announced her White House candidacy Sunday, a move that empowers her to parry Republican attacks as she seeks to become the United States’ first female president. Seven years after her bitter nomination defeat to Barack Obama, the former secretary of state and first lady jumps into the race as the Democratic Party’s overwhelming favorite, as Clinton and her rivals gird for a bruising 18- month campaign. “I’m running for president,” a beaming Clinton said in a video on her campaign website that went live at about 3:00 pm (1900 GMT) Sunday. Hillary “Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion, so you can do more than just get by. You can get ahead, and stay ahead,” she said, after a two-minute clip featuring middle-class and working-class couples and families sharing their aspirations. Her nascent campaign emailed supporters saying Clinton will spend “the next six to eight...