DD
MM
YYYY

PAGES

DD
MM
YYYY

spot_img

PAGES

Home Blog Page 5192

The Consequence Of Raising A False Alarm – A Case Study Of Toyosi

0

Wikipedia describes a false alarm as a deceptive nuisance alarm and an erroneous report of an emergency, causing unnecessary panic and bringing resources (such as emergency services) to a place where they are not needed. I am not disputing the fact that a false alarm could occur by mistake, which unfortunately on very few occasions can be overlooked. This article emphasizes on the deliberate misdemeanor of raising a false alarm by some despicable individuals.

It seems a lot of individuals have not gotten themselves abreast with the Constitution, to be aware that raising a false alarm is a very punishable offense. In the U.S, a person who knowingly indicates, or circulates a false alarm, is jailed for a felony. Such an individual will be punished by confinement in a state jail for any term of not more than two years or less than 180 days.

In Nigeria, raising a false alarm falls under the category of a strict liability offense. The offender when tried can be punished with up to 6 months imprisonment and a fine by the relevant laws. Just recently, in Nigeria, Lagos precisely, there was a case of false alarm that was raised which attracted the attention of many.

A twenty years old lady on Twitter named Toyosi, raised an emergency alarm on the app, where she tweeted “I’m being kidnapped guys. I’m being raped. Number 78 bayan street Pako Akoka. Lagos”. This attracted the attention of many Nigerian Twitter users, who out of sheer concern, did not hesitate to contact the security operatives who swung into action and arrived at the location shared online as soon as possible to help rescue the acclaimed visit and also make a possible arrest.

While this was going on, the alleged victim, who happened not to be at the shared location later made a video that she was neither raped nor kidnapped, as she was only doing that to chase clout, and didn’t know that it would escalate into something serious. This act however infuriated Twitter users who didn’t fail to lash at her for such a callous act. She was later arrested by the police who thought that the alarm raised was a genuine one.

After an extensive interrogation and investigation of the incident, it was revealed that the 20 years old Omotoyosi Adesegun is a regular visitor of the address she shared online. The latest development is that Ms. Omotoyosi will be charged with a criminal offense for intentionally misleading the public and security forces by giving false information and causing nuisance and disturbance of the public peace.

She risks getting a jail term of up to 6 months or more. Considering the high level of insecurity that has plagued the country, such a mischievous act needs to be treated by the law followed by punishment, as it is a very sensitive matter. The negative impact of this action is that it has the potential to divert emergency responders away from legitimate emergencies, which could unfortunately lead to loss of life.

Peradventure another case of emergency is raised, there is a tendency that a lot of people might be reluctant to respond because of the false alarm that was earlier raised. The law needs to take its full course on Omotoyosi’s case, to serve as a deterrent to others who might likely want to follow suit, to desist from using sensitive issues to chase clout. It seems a lot of Nigerians are not aware that raising a false alarm is a punishable offense just like the case of Toyosi who obviously had no idea.

The country is currently ravaged with so many insecurity issues, It is ideal that every citizen of the country do not carry out insensitive actions to complicate the already ongoing issues.

Zuckerberg Announces A New WhatsApp Feature – ‘WhatsApp Communities’

1

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Monday that WhatsApp services is about to be expanded to include new features in what he described as “major evolution.”

The evolution, which is known as ‘WhatsApp Communities,’ will enable people to not only communicate with close friends and contacts, but also with all of the different communities in life.

“This might be a school community with chats where important announcements for parents are shared and discussed, or a work community with chats to discuss different things with colleagues, or a neighborhood community to talk about what’s happening on your street or in your building,” Zuckerberg said.

Meta has been widening the scope of its services as competition in the social media space toughens. Facebook started the year with a massive loss that saw over $250 billion wiped off its market value. It also lost over one million users for the first time, deepening its troubles.

The loss, which was largely attributed to TikTok’s growing influence, quickened Meta’s pace to pivot its services across its platforms, with focus on reels and short-form videos. The social media behemoth, which depends on ads for revenue, is parent to Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Oculus. But WhatsApp has been ad-free.

The WhatsApp Community, with its many features, is likely going to open the way for the monetization of the instant-messaging app.

“We built WhatsApp Communities to make it much easier to organize all your group chats and find information. You’ll be able to bring different group together into one community — for example, in addition to individual groups for different classes, you might have one overall community for parents at a school with a central place for announcements and tools for admins,” Zuckerberg said.

“We’re also adding new features to groups on WhatsApp, including reactions, large file sharing, and bigger group calls. And because this is WhatsApp, end-to-end encryption and safety features will be built in from the start,” he added.

Apple’s new App Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy, which allows iPhone users to stop advertisers from tracking them across the web, was the biggest blow to Meta’s revenue and the company has been seeking ways to replenish the resultant loss.

WhatsApp is the world’s most used messenger app with over 2 billion users, making it an integral part of Meta’s divestment plan.

Zuckerberg said the new products will be rolled out slowly, and that he expects it to be an important evolution for WhatsApp and online communication overall.

He said in the same way that social feeds took the basic technology behind the internet and made it so anyone could find people and content online, … community messaging will take the basic protocols behind one-to-one messaging and extend them so you can communicate more easily with groups of people to get things done together.

“We’ll be building community messaging features for Messenger, Facebook, and Instagram as well. I’m excited to see how this progresses as we start testing WhatsApp Communities today and roll it out over the coming months,” he said.

As a Federal Minister, Ndubuisi Ekekwe Will Digitize Downstream Oil Sector and Eliminate Fuel Subsidy Corruption

4

Drawing from my playbook on how to fix Nigeria, I will examine fuel subsidy, focusing on deepening transparency in the process, and not necessarily the economic implications of fuel subsidy (the economics of fuel subsidy is another conversation which I will return to in another post).

From Ndubuisi Ekekwe’s3T2030 Plan for Greater Nigeria”, a plan to transform Nigeria’s current sub-$500b GDP to $3 trillion by 2030, here we go.

As a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (the current post I am running for), I will work with Mr. President to digitize the downstream sector of the Nigerian oil & gas sector. I offer to help Nigeria build a transparent, robust and real-time integrated petrol distribution and monitoring system.

I will drop sensors in every fuel truck, fuel tank and depot, linking all via GSM/satellite to a database, and using GIS data, connect the elements. The end result: you have full visibility on volume, consumption, location, etc at any point in the nation. All human elements in the system will be automated out so that corruption will move to the museum of ancient demons.

I will install LCD monitors for all LGAs chairmen, governors and Presidency to have real time data of petrol consumed, quantity in all jurisdictional fuel stations, quantity coming to their domains, depot capacity, etc. Under my watch, corruption in fuel subsidies will go. We will build the tech.

This project will be delivered within 6 months. Every piece required is already in Nigeria. Let’s make it happen so that your favourite teacher can go to work at Abuja and fix these issues as a minister. If we do this, Nigeria can save more than 30% of wealth it wastes on fuel subsidy because we will cast out the demons. 

Support Ndubuisi Ekekwe for minister!

Brand Awareness And Lesson from Obi Cubana’s Odogwu Bitters

1

We sometimes hear words like “if your product is really good, it should be able to sell itself”. While I don’t believe that anything good can sell itself, I agree with the idea that a top-quality product or service could be much easier to sell. Gregory Berns says, “a person can have the greatest idea in the world, but if the person can’t convince other people about it, then it doesn’t matter”.

Brand awareness is mostly the first step to driving performance-marketing goals, such as leads and sales. Not creating brand awareness for a new product or service often leads to low patronage, less profit, etc. Making people aware of your brand, especially by targeting relevant audiences, will increase your chances of generating conversions and dominating the market.

Recently, I witnessed how a well-known Businessman by name Obi Iyiegbu, fondly called Obi Cubana launched his product “Odogwu Bitters” into the market. He painstakingly created lots of brand awareness which has seen the demand for the product skyrocket, with almost every shop and mall in the country having the product in stock.

One thing brand awareness campaigns do is that aside from the fact that it helps more people know about a product or service, it also changes how people perceive a business which contributes to the overall brand affinity and loyalty.

Below are five (5) advantages of brand awareness;

Top Of Mind: When a brand carries out its brand awareness campaigns effectively, it registers its product in the mind of potential customers. What this means is that when customers need to purchase within your product category, it is your product they will first think of. Through repeated exposure and consistent delivery of your product, customers will have no option but to keep your product in mind, and whenever they need to purchase, they won’t hesitate to patronize your brand.

Helps In The Introduction Of New Products: Companies that established a successful brand awareness campaign after experiencing high patronage from customers can decide to extend the brand by adding new products under the same family brand. Such a type of branding is highly advantageous because it allows companies to introduce new products with ease, knowing full well that the brand is already recognized in the market. It leverages on the popularity of the initial product.

Attracts Investors: A good brand identity can help your business draw close investors. Most investors are always on the lookout for popular brands to partner with, when your brand is of high value, it will definitely attract investors. Even if you do not need the money, investors offer more than just financial backing, as they come with expertise that can make a business very successful for a long period.

Increases Sales: One of the topmost benefits of brand awareness is that it increases sales. Research reveals that for most people shopping for items, brand awareness is a dominant choice tactic. They tend to have a preference for high-awareness brands, despite any quality or proven differences. Good brand awareness makes people more familiar with your product.

Retains Customers: Brand awareness plays an active role in retaining customers which makes them always come back to buy your product. Once a brand creates a sense of trust with customers, they are more likely to always patronize the brand they have bought from before.

Conclusion

For a business to thrive in today’s world, there is a strong need to create good brand awareness. No matter how good a product or service is, it won’t sell itself. Brand awareness makes the public recall emotions and general impressions about a brand.

Finally, Musk Makes A $43 Billion Takeover Offer for Twitter

0

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has come full square with his bid to take over Twitter, confirming speculation that he has intention to acquire the social media platform.

On Thursday, the tech prodigy, who recently floated the idea of starting a social media platform free from propaganda and censorship, announced in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a $54.20 per share in cash for Twitter’s acquisition.

The offer which he dubbed “best and final” will represent a 54% premium over the Jan. 28 closing price and amount to $43 billion in value.

“I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy,” Musk said in the filing. “However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.”

“As a result, I am offering to buy 100% of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54% premium over the day before I began investing in Twitter and a 38% premium over the day before my investment was publicly announced,” he announced.

Musk’s interest in Twitter has gone beyond tweeting funny memes to his more than 80 million followers to owning the microblogging app, which over the years, has been his platform of choice.

On April 4, Musk took a 9.2% share in Twitter, making him the company’s highest shareholder. He was subsequently appointed into Twitter board, an offer he later turned down in the morning to take effect. Musk’s reason to turn down the offer, even though he had earlier accepted it, was as a result of the board’s agreement, which would stop him from increasing his shares as a board member, thus limiting his chances of making a hostile takeover.

Musk’s aim in acquiring Twitter is to bring about the ideas he had floated. In a series of tweets weeks ago, he talked about needed changes bordering on free speech, an edit button and increasing Twitter usage.

After his initial stake became public, Musk immediately began appealing to fellow users about prospective moves, from turning Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter and adding an edit button for tweets to granting automatic verification marks to premium users. One tweet suggested Twitter might be dying, given that several celebrities with high numbers of followers rarely tweet.

It is what he reiterated in his letter to the Twitter board. Musk has said he believes Twitter “will neither thrive nor serve [its free speech] societal imperative in its current form,” adding that the app needs to be transformed as a private company.

Twitter is currently valued at $37 billion, making Musk’s acquisition offer irresistible. Wall Street analysts say that Twitter can’t afford to reject Musk’s takeover offer if it’s serious. The social media company’s shares soared 18% at the news.

With about $260 billion net worth, Musk can afford a takeover of Twitter. He has hired Morgan Stanley as his adviser for the takeover. The offer price also includes the number 420, the same number he used in 2018 when he moved to take Tesla private, though it is widely recognized as a coded reference to marijuana.

But even though the deal is largely believed to be irresistible, there is doubt that Twitter will accept it. “The $54.20 per share offer is too low for shareholders or the board to accept,” Vital Knowledge’s Adam Crisafulli said in a report, adding that the company’s shares hit $70 less than a year ago.

Musk said in his letter to Twitter that an unfavorable outcome of the deal may force him out of the company.

“If the deal doesn’t work, given that I don’t have confidence in management nor do I believe I can drive the necessary change in the public market, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder,” he said.

The board had earlier drawn up a clever agreement designed to stop Musk from amassing more shares, curtailing his potential of having a controlling stake.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal said in the wake of Musk’s rejection of his board appointment that “There will be distractions ahead, but our goals and priorities remain unchanged. The decisions we make and how we execute [them] is in our hands, no one else’s.”

So it’s unclear if Musk’s offer will change anything. However, the offer presents Twitter with two options; either let Musk take control or allow him to leave as remaining Twitter’s highest shareholder would mean being part of a system he doesn’t believe in.