THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY!!!

THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY!!! This is a very common expression we hear from people on fridays. But what should you be thankful for? I got this poem from a friend so i decided to share it. Enjoy!!!

Thank you this day for my heart that still beats

Thank you too for every little thing I eat

Thank you for the sun, the rain the sky   

Thank you for beautiful butterflies

Thank you for my feet, to take me along

Thank you for my tongue, and this little song

Thank you for my eyes to see the world in full colour

  -a pretty lady, the smile of a child and sometimes a little horror

Thank you this day for my mind, ideas and inspiration

Thank you for wisdom, knowledge;

                           And some confusion

Thanks for romance, for suspense, for mystery

For comedy, for tragedy, for poetry

Thank you for music, movies… freedom of expression

For dance, drama… recreation

Thanks for love and heartbreaks alike

Thank you for lonely nights crying in bed

And for friends that fit like a mosaic

And even when they turn enemies instead

Thank you for evil so we know what is good

Thank you for lies so we know the worth of truth

Thank you for the void within heartbeats

And for her; that will fill it.

Thank God it’s Friday…

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FINAL WINNER EMERGES FOR 2012 NLNG PRIZE FOR LITERATURE

On Black Sisters’ Street clinch the most prestigious Literature Prize in Africa

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The Nigeria Prize for Literature was instituted in 2004 by The Nigeria LNG Limited to identify and reward excellence in literature.  The prize rotates among four literary genres and in 2012, the competition focuses on prose fiction.

The 2012 competition attracted 214 entries – the highest ever since the inception of the prize in 2004.

 The following criteria were set for the entries:

·         Quality of editing and production

·         Relevance to the Nigerian situation

·         Vivid presentation of character and plot

·         Use of language

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An initial shortlist was based on such factors as overall packaging and other aesthetic elements, appropriateness of title and year of publication. 58 entries made it to this round. The panel eventually arrived at an initial shortlist of 22 which was further reduced to 10. A final shortlist of three was eventually announced on 9^th October. The three entries are:

Only a Canvas by Olusola Olugbesan

Onaedo: The Blacksmith’s Daughter by Ngozi Achebe and

On Black Sisters’ Street by Chika Unigwe 

Verdict

By coincidence, the three novels deal with issues concerning the plight of women in the past and in the present. On Black Sisters’ Street is focused specifically on the very precarious situation of women, particularly the issue of sexual slavery. In her depiction of the socio-economic conditions in Nigeria, Unigwe displays grasp of narrative techniques as well as excellent descriptive capabilities.

The Panel of Judges therefore considers On Black Sisters’ Street by Chika Unigwe a work of outstanding merit and adjudges it the winning entry for The Nigeria Prize for Literature, 2012

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FG Set To Transform Technical and Vocational Education in Nigeria

Transforming Technical and Vocational Education
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The federal government's plan to transform the nation's technical and vocational education is bound to receive the approval of well-meaning Nigerians, especially those who are concerned about the appalling lack of skills in the education system which has made it difficult for Nigerian youths to be self-employed or be employable. Over the past two or three decades, Nigeria has been saturated with unemployment that has affected graduates and non-graduates from all parts of the country. This has been blamed on the absence of well-funded practical education that can be acquired at the technical and vocational institutions as was the case before the introduction of the 6-3-3-4 system more than two decades ago.

Vocational institutions such as technical and commercial schools that operated side by side with teacher training colleges and grammar schools in those good days were run for just three years, after which their graduates sat for vocational examinations. Such vocational and technical education even went beyond certificates as students acquired practical education that made them self-employed as electricians, plumbers, pipe fitters, mechanics, stenographers, typists, book-keepers, among others.

There is no doubt that the foundation of great economies all over the world is anchored in skill-acquisition centres as exemplified in technical and vocational education. The absence of this system of education has made Nigeria a dumping ground for technical school leavers from Europe and Asia. This is why the federal government's plan to transform the nation's technical education should be encouraged.

Reports suggested that the federal government has gone beyond the realm of rhetoric and is building synergy with international development partners to ensure that a workable framework is developed to achieve the administration's goal. Already, the federal government's team led by Chief Ezenwa Nyesom Wike, the country's minister of state for education, has made a pact with Highbury College, Portsmouth, in the United Kingdom, to fashion out the modalities of implementing the technical and vocational education framework.

While we acknowledge the importance of this programme, we urge the federal government to monitor its implementation which could be encumbered by corruption and red tape as is common in other schemes. Indeed, such technical and educational centres should be established in each of the 774 local government areas. State governments should also key into this programme; they should build their own technical and vocational schools in strategic local government areas all over their states. This will help to reduce the problem of unemployment.

We call on the federal government to sensitise investors, wealthy citizens and non-governmental organisations to take interest in establishing vocational centres all over the country.

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Leadership

3 FINALLY SHORTLISTED FOR NLNG 2012 EDITION OF NIGERIA PRIZE FOR LITERATURE

FINAL SHORTLIST OF THREE FOR 2012 EDITION OF THE NIGERIA PRIZE FOR LITERATURE
 

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The Advisory Board for The Nigeria Prize for Literature has approved a final shortlist of three books out of the initial shortlist of ten released last month. The books are Onaedo: The Blacksmith’s Daughter by Ngozi Achebe, Only a Canvas by Olusola Olugbesan and On Black Sister’s Street by Chika Unigwe. 

Chairman of the Board, Emeritus Professor Ayo Banjo, said the eventual winner of the competition will be announced on 1^st November, 2012, at a world press conference at Eko Hotel & Suites, Lagos.   

Onaedo: The Blacksmith’s Daughter is the story of Onaedo, a young teenager of Igbo extraction, in the time before the English colonialists, her daily struggles of being a woman in a patriarchal society and how she dealt with life, love and at some point, an unloving husband. Ngozi Achebe, a medical doctor by training, lives in the United States with her children, Jennifer and Nnamdi and is a practicing physician. Onaedo: The Blacksmith’s Daughter is her first novel. DO YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND AND BUILD ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS? CLICK HERE NOW

Only a Canvas is a tale of exhilarating characters from different backgrounds with dreams intricately woven together to create a tapestry of life. Olusola Olugbesan is an architect, married with three children and writes as a hobby. Only a Canvas is Olugbesan’s first novel.

On Black Sister’s Street tells a gripping story of the lives of four African migrants working the red light district of Antwerp in Belgium brought together by bad luck and big dreams into a sisterhood that will change their lives. The Enugu-born graduate of English Language and Literature, Chika Unigwe, lives in Belgium. She is married with four children.

The chairman of the panel of judges is Prof. Francis Abiola Irele, Provost of the College of Humanities at the Kwara State University and Fellow of the Dubois Institute, Harvard University.  Other members of the panel are Prof. Angela Miri, Head of the English Department at the University of Jos, Prof. Sophia Ogwude, Dean of the Faculty of Arts at University of Abuja, Prof J O J Nwachukwu-Agbada, Professor of African Literature in the Department of English, Abia State University and Dr. Oyeniyi Okunoye, a Reader at the Department of English, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and a Section Editor of Postcolonial Text, a journal affiliated to the Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies.