Oct 1: FG Orders 53 Gold iPhones For N12.5m Each

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The cash crunch presumably afflicting the federal government has not prevented it from placing an order for 53 gold iPhones to mark Nigeria’s 53rd independence anniversary.

A United Kingdom-born businessman based in Dubai, Amjad Ali, unwittingly disclosed this when he spoke to the Independent of London.

“We will engrave them with the coat of arms, a shield and two horses,” he said. The 42-year-old Ali supplies royal families, governments, and minted customers across Russia, China and the Middle East with gold-plated devices that cost from £3,000 to £50,000 (about N780, 000 to N12.5m).

“We strip the units down and then plate them in copper, nickel and then pure gold,” he told the Independent. “We have limited units per region and each is numbered and placed in a handmade wooden box with a certificate of authenticity and wax seal.”

Ali typically delivers 50 devices a month, including Blackberries and iPads, but orders rose to more than 300 a month when the iPhone 5 was launched last year. He expects greater demand as the sixth-generation device was announced yesterday.

 The federal government has refused to meet the financial demands of striking university lecturers, claiming that meeting such demands would leave the government broke.

Minister of Information Mr Labaran Maku had said that activities of the federal government would be grounded if all the demands of members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities were met.

Nigeria gained political independence from Britain on October 1, 1960, and has since marked the date with fanfare.

Reports of dwindling foreign reserves have been denied by the federal government. Nigeria is facing financial difficulties as crude oil theft and endemic corruption continue to bore huge holes in the nation’s coffers.

But the federal government has maintained silence over report that it plans to import 23 iPhones for the independence anniversary billed to take place on the first of next month.

Effort to reach Special Adviser to the president on media and publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati last night was futile as he could not be reached on phone.

New PDP Opens Office In Port Harcourt

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The Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday opened its secretariat in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

The new state secretariat is located along Forces Avenue, in Old GRA of the state capital.

You Won't Believe These Shocking Sex Traditions

Sexual intercourse can be regarded as one of the most curious part of life.

While some people attach spirituality to the act, others have some very interesting rules for when and how to have sex.

Check out some of the most shocking sexual practices around the world:

1. Adolescents allowed to have sex

In Polynesia, adolescents of are instructed in sexual techniques by an older experienced person, and during this period, it is permissible to have numerous sexual liaisons before settling down. Special "pleasure houses" are built to provide young people with their own place to socialize and have intercourse.

2. Premarital sex allowed after parents approval

The inhabitants of Tonga (South Pacific) allow premarital intercourse with permission of the girl's parents and the provision that conception won't occur. If pregnancy occurs, the offending couple must walk around the village naked for several days and apply a magic potion to the fence surrounding the community to prevent disease from infecting people.

3. Six-year-old girls allowed to have sex

In Trobrianders tribe, Papua New Guinea, girls begin to have sex at the age of 6-8 and boys at the age of 10-12. However, having a meal together before marriage is forbidden.

4. Widow inheritance

When a family man dies in the Lou community, in Kenya, there is something called a widow inheritance. This is when a widow must sleep with another man to cleanse the death of her husband and bring ritual renewal and regeneration.

5. Intimate cutting rituals to achieve manhood

The first portion of this Mardudjara Aboriginal rite in Australia, involves a barbaric circumcision. After he heals up, the male's sex organ is cut lengthwise on the underside. Blood is then dripped over a fire in order to purify it.

6. Unnatural sex abstinence in Romania

Decent and upright women in Romania do not perform unnatural sex other than the classic missionary positions. Even if they wanted to, their lovers probably wouldn’t let them as it is believed it is something that only prostitutes do.

7. Boys to stay away from girls for 10 years:

To become a man, boys from Sambia tribe in New Guinea are removed from all the females at the age of seven for 10 years. Among other traditions, they are required to ingest the semen of their elders.

8. Temporary Marriage:

In certain Muslim countries, a young couple who would like to have sex before they’re ready to marry can request a “temporary marriage”. They are allowed to pay for a short ceremony, with a written contract.

9. Egypt strange sexual practices:

The ancient Egyptians were so inspired by the act of self-stimulation that at the festival of the god Min, who represented Pharaoh's sexual potency, men seeking pleasure in public.

10. Polyandrous Society;

In Nepal, When families have more than one son, they simply marry all of their sons to one wife.

11. Pon:

In Indonesia, they celebrate a holiday called Pon. To receive such blessings, participants must spend the night with someone other than their husband or wife.

12: Sex Haven

In Cambodia, the Kreung people encourage the sexual independence of their daughters by building separate huts for them to sleep in.

13. Sex with donkey:

In Northern Colombia, it is common practice for adolescent boys to have sex with donkeys. It is like a rite of passage that a boy has to pass to become a man.

14. Paid to break virginity:

In Guam, there's a full time job for a man to break the woman's virginity, and they've paid to do that, because in guam law's a virgin woman isn't allowed to get married.

15. Making love to animals:

In Lebanon, people are allowed to make love with a female animal, if one is caught having sex with a male animal, he will be punished to death.

Which one do you consider the craziest? Do you know any more weird sexual practices that is not listed above. Share your views in the comments section below.

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Where Are Confiscated Assets?

A high court recently granted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFFC) permission to freeze N33 billion worth of illicit assets allegedly acquired by two former Police Pension Office officials being tried for alleged pension theft. Larger assets have been seized from a bank boss, Mrs Cecilia Ibru: she forfeited hundreds of property across the world worth N191 billion to the EFCC, following her six-month conviction in October 2010. Former Edo State governor Lucky Igbinedion also surrendered property and funds worth billions of naira to the commission after he was convicted in 2011 for stealing state funds as governor. And, early this year, self-confessed police pension thief Yakubu Yusuf gave up 32 prime property to the government.

The pertinent question now is: what has happened to these and other assets forfeited to the government by suspects successfully prosecuted by anti-corruption agencies like the EFCC and the ICPC? While the media report on certain property forfeitures as announced by the EFCC via its official statements, the anti-graft agency has not given commensurate publicity to how it has been treating the forfeited assets. Many Nigerians believe that the seized property are simply being “re-looted” by those in the anti-graft system, their masters and cronies in a vicious circle that leaves the country worse off.

While no case of actual “re-looting” of seized assets has come to light thus far, the climate of doubt that has apparently descended on this all-important national issue needs to be dispelled immediately. Transparency in the process of selling all confiscated property and funds by anti-corruption agencies should be a logical end to the widespread media coverage received by the trial and conviction of economic criminals; it is sine qua non to the success of the country’s anti-corruption campaign.

 In the light of the foregoing, we demand that all anti-corruption agencies make full disclosures of all assets forfeited to the government through them on their official websites and in the print and electronic media without further delay. The disclosure should be explicit enough and include the revenue, if any, that these forfeited assets have generated for the country since they arrived in government custody. If any of these seized assets has been sold, we demand that the anti-graft agency involved indicate how much it was sold and to whom. This will dispel the widespread belief that the convicted former owners went behind to buy back these confiscated property using proxies. The transparent treatment of all tangible property as demanded here should also extend to frozen bank accounts and the funds therein.

The anti-graft campaign is losing traction. No amount of chest-beating by the agencies would convince citizens about their sincerity of purpose. An honest public rendition of their accounts is the breath of life the anti-corruption war needs now.