Ndubuisi Ekekwe Makes Abia State Governorship Transition Council

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April 10, 2023

I am honoured to report that Dr Alex Otti, OFR, Abia State Governor-Elect, called and asked me to join the Abia State governorship transition council. I ACCEPTED. Over a series of phone conversations with Mr. Governor-elect, he has emphasized unambiguously that ABIA will RISE, not just for a few but for ALL. And I assured him that his fellow Abians, Nigerians and world citizens will assist on that journey.

What can you do for Abia State? And how can Abia State help to bring your aspirations and visions to become a reality? Find the road, and the roads to opportunities begin at Abia State, as the Lord lives in Abia; we’re the God’s Own State.

Ndi Abia, thank you for the opportunity. This is the time: “ABIA Must Move Forward”. Be part of it.

What You Need to Know About Cashlib Casino

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TI Partners

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April 10, 2023

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Cashlib casino is a great choice for players who are looking for a safe and secure way to deposit and withdraw money online. It offers many benefits including full anonymity, instant deposits, and no fees on purchases or withdrawals.

The best casinos to use with CASHlib are those that offer a variety of bonuses, promotions, and games. They also offer a wide selection of payment methods and have excellent customer support. Some even offer exclusive deals for those using Cashlib as their deposit method.

Bonuses

The top cashlib casino bonus for new players is a welcome bonus package, which usually contains a free spin or two to play with. These can be worth a lot of money and they are an excellent incentive for newcomers to sign up with a casino that accepts cashlib deposits.

Bonuses for existing players are not as common, but they do exist and they can help you keep playing for longer. In addition to a welcome bonus, these rewards can include free spins, deposit bonuses, and cashbacks.

No Deposit Bonus

There are many ways to get started with a cashlib casino, but the most popular type of deposit bonus is a no deposit bonus. This allows you to try out the casino without spending any money and see if it is right for you. The no deposit bonus can be worth anything from 100 euros to several thousand euros.

Mobile Banking

Cashlib is a prepaid voucher system, which means it can be used on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. You can buy the vouchers on the official website or from other retailers in your area, and then use them to make deposits into your casino account.

These vouchers come in different values and have a 16-digit PIN code on them that you will need to enter into the casino payment page. Once you have inputted this code, the money will be withdrawn from your prepaid card and will show up on your casino account immediately.

The process of using a cashlib voucher is very simple. First, you must find a CASHlib voucher retailer in your area. Once you have found a store, you can purchase the voucher with its value and then go to the casino’s deposit page to enter the code.

It is important to note that there are limitations on the number of vouchers that can be purchased and used. This is to prevent abuse of the system by unscrupulous retailers.

You should always read the terms and conditions of any casino you are considering using to ensure that you have an understanding of the rules. This is especially true of new players who may not have experience with gambling or the internet.

As a result, it is vital to check the terms and conditions of any casino you are planning to play at before making any deposits. This is the only way to be sure that you are not getting ripped off or scammed. You should also remember to check whether the casino offers a customer support service to answer any questions that you might have.

The Potemkin village of Abakaliki

By

Stanley Alieke

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April 10, 2023

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In 1787, Empress Catherine II visited a Russian city governed by Grigory Potemkin. Governor Grigory Potemkin in order to impress the empress constructed fake villages along the Dnieper River which is the route of the Monarch and beautified them so as to impress the monarch and for the monarch to have the impression that the city is blossoming without knowing that the city is in dire hardship. The fake villages created were called Potemkin villages hence where the name Potemkin Village originated from.

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Fast forward to the 21st century, Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi state who we all can see is an ardent follower of Grigory Potemkin have copied serially from the old Russian governor by painting the city walls and building flyover and adding colorful street lights so as to have a place to show and impress visitors who may go and think that Ebonyi state is blossoming without knowing that the state with its residents are really suffering and still topping the rank as the state with the highest rate of poverty in southern Nigeria, still topping the rank as one of the states with highest rate of unemployment in Nigeria, still tops the rank as the number one educationally less developed state in south eastern Nigeria; but as a visitor who may have only visited Abakaliki at night and behold the colorful lights and multi color paints on the city walls or might have seen what the government media shows on social media you may get carried away and think otherwise that Ebonyi state is blossoming; lo and behold, what is created right there in Abakaliki is a Potemkin village.

Behind those colorfully painted city walls and fancy street lights are dilapidated government-owned schools; there are primary schools around the Abakaliki town that I personally know of where the school kids receive lectures and write their exams sitting on the bare floor inside a dilapidated building that can collapse any moment and kill them all. If you walk inside the streets behind those beautifully painted city walls there are untarred roads, uncleared and smelling gutters, unstable electricity, insecurity, high rate of poverty, lack of jobs, and the list goes on.

The governor only masterfully created a Potemkin village in Abakaliki, Ebonyi state and people who should be holding him accountable to account for those resources squandered in all these white elephant projects and frivolous activities are applauding him as being the most hardworking governor amongst his peers.

It is a shame!!!

It is only because we celebrate mediocrity and the barest minimum in this part of the world that is why Governor Dave Umahi is regarded as one of the most working governors just because he engaged in wasteful and unnecessary ventures instead of prioritizing more important things.

The two major things that attract investors and industries to a state are steady and low-cost electricity and security. Any government that invests in electricity and security will attract industries that will create jobs. This is what Ebonyi state needs at the moment; jobs and education. This is what will build human capacity and drastically reduce the alarming rate of poverty in the state.

Paints and traffic lights will not attract investors or create jobs in Ebonyi state. The governor engaged in all these ventures for about eight years now and no industry is yet to come knocking; this is to show that the strategy is not working and I know it as I know my name that no serious investor or industry will ever relocate to a state and build an industry simply because of flyovers and city wall paints or traffic lights; those are frivolities.

Ebonyi state today being the poorest state in southern Nigeria with the highest rate of poverty and the state is top of the rank in educationally less developed states in Nigeria should warrant any serious government should prioritize things that will create long-term and sustainable formal jobs; prioritize on things that will boost economic and commercial activities in the state; prioritize on education. This is how you invest in the future of the state.

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This sequel to my last article “Street lights and paints will not attract investors or create jobs in Ebonyi state” only came as a response to the reactions I have been getting over the previous post.

As Tesla Expands Operations in China, in this Age of Sanctions, the Power of Markets Wins

By

Ndubuisi Ekekwe

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April 10, 2023

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The economic battle between China and the United States will define this century. The United States has unleashed torrents of technology sanctions on China and its companies (like Huawei) while China continues to ban and restrict certain US companies like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Yet, if you look deeper, you will get one conclusion: these two nations are entwined because across the oceans, their companies want to do business.

Tesla dropped a new validation: “Tesla is opening a mega energy factory in Shanghai, China, which will boost energy for EVs in the world’s largest auto market. The company said in a tweet on Sunday that the factory is capable of producing ten thousand Megapack energy products per year, supplementing output from the Megapack factory in California.”

In the last 10 centuries, China has ruled the world economically in at least 6 of those centuries. But in those 6 centuries, nothing could be compared to the one the US led in the 20th century. So, there is a new match and a new date is fixed. But we hope this competition is done with civility, respect and win-win because the spectators (Europe, Africa, LatA, etc) need to “survive” the battle royale.

Victory has relations, vanquish is an orphan, an African proverb says. China is rising and Tesla sees a part of its future there, and is going for it because “uwa bu ahia” (the world is a market), the Igbo Nation says.

Tesla Announces Plan to Build Megapack Energy Factory in Shanghai China

How African Farmers Can Leverage the Continuing Digital Revolution to Improve Africa’s Food System

By

Tiamiyu Ismail

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April 10, 2023

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The continuous digital revolution has significantly induced innovation in many sectors of the global economy. In the agricultural ecosystem, the narrative has changed and is still changing. Agricultural production has transitioned and is still transitioning from the primitive stage of relying on nature and crude implements to modern data-driven technologies and methodologies. According to experts, the next phase of agricultural practices will be largely driven by data of all kinds.

Unfortunately, in Africa digital agriculture has been growing rather unsteadily compared to other regions of the world, especially the global north. This has continued to impact how people within the region grow and source for their foods.

Africa’s food system has been disproportionately pressured by its increasing population, resulting in high incidence of hunger, malnutrition and criminality of the region. Therefore, it has been suggested that to meet the required food production for Africa’s projected population of 4.5 billion by 2050, stakeholders within the Africa’s agricultural workspace must begin to look in the direction of big data and digital technologies to optimize the food system.

It is believed that the future of Africa rests on the ability to resourcefully harness the vast potentials of the region’s agricultural ecosystem. One key thing that has been emphasized by experts in this regard is a deliberate, concerted effort to bridge the gap of knowledge in the Industry through increased investment in research and development as well as advocacy and training for data usage by farmers and other stakeholders.

High level of illiteracy among Africa’s smallholder farmers remains a big challenge. This problem often results in lack of capacity for system and collaborative thinking among farmers which is much needed for value creation and delivery across the agricultural value chains. Consequently, many local farmers tend to focus mainly on the production value chain.

However, when Agriculture is limited to just planting and harvesting, the food security that we all talk about may not be realized. Hence, farmers need to understand the entire business of Agriculture and how to link one part of the value chain to the other.

Data is a major element to achieving food security and large-scale production under controlled condition with minimal risks. However, beyond farming on a large scale, it is important to institutionalize data system for Agriculture so that people can become conscious of it and then collaborate towards driving innovation in the industry. It is said that in Africa, people will not go hungry due to insufficient farmlands or farmers but due to lack of capacity to leverage data and data analytics for sustainable agricultural practices.

Key Recommendations

Farmers and other key stakeholders in Africa’s agriculture industry need to develop capacity in data analytics. They need to understand what data to collect, how to collect these data and how to build models to analyse and generate insight for sustainable agricultural production.
We need to develop a system to collect data and store them in a location that is easily accessible to all farmers or stakeholders that need them.
A strong sense of collaboration should be encouraged among practitioners in the industry.
Knowledge gap existing in the area of developing indigenously made devices such as sensors and artificial intelligence models should be bridged. Research institute and agriculture-focused institution should look in this direction to ensure that we have affordable digital devices that can enhance farming practices locally.
Government should provide enabling environment that will promote data-driven Agriculture in the continent.

Ndubuisi Ekekwe Makes Abia State Governorship Transition Council

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