ONE: President Goodluck Jonathan has promised to use the experience of the Asian Tigers (i.e Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan) to help Nigeria transform into a major economy by 2020. He expressed his admiration towards the success of the Asian Tigers at the Nigeria-Korean Investment Forum on Infrastructure and Energy Development in Seoul last week, co-hosted by the Nigerian Embassy and the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and brought together more than 150 investors.TWO: Nigeria and General Electric Co. (GE) have signed an agreement for GE to build power plants in the country as part of the government’s aim of privatising and expanding power generation capacity to 10 gigawatts. A memorandum of understanding was signed between Nigeria and GE as part of the effort to increase Nigeria’s gas-fueled power station. Nigeria has the world’s seventh largest natural gas reserves.
THREE: While speaking at a youth marketing seminar in Lagos, Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia noted that the Yoruba version of Wikipedia is the largest in Africa with around 30,000.
FOUR: The Nigerian Ministry of Aviation has given British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and all international airlines operating in Nigeria 30 days to change what it has called “disproportionately” high fares to Nigerian cities. Apparently flights to other countries in West Africa are much lower in comparison and Nigerian passengers pay more for international flights. The Ministry of Aviation plans to ban international airlines that do not revise their prices within the timeline given.
FIVE: Last week, it was discovered that the much-lauded Nigerian satellite project did not provide relevant images due to lack laboratory equipment. The satellite project was supposed to help the government monitor Boko Haram’s activities by providing aerial maps of areas in northern Nigeria. Approximately $64 million was spent on building two earth observation satellites that were launched into orbit on 17 August, 2011. However the Abuja based ground stations were not fully equipped with the laboratory to process images downloaded from the satellites.
SIX: A suspected bomb-making factory by Boko Haram in Okene, Kogi state has been raided by Nigerian security forces. At least nine members of the group were killed during the raid, along with two members of the security forces.
SEVEN: A Nigerian entrepreneur, Gossy Ukanwoke is set to launch Beni American University, an online university targeting African students. Ukanwoke has previously founded an academic social networking site for university and secondary students providing free course materials, scholarship offers, study groups and other similar student services called the Students Circle Network.
EIGHT: The second annual Mobile Web West Africa conference organised by All Amber Ltd is set to take place in Lagos from the 24 – 26 April, 2012. The event is targeted at all individuals involved in the West African mobile sector.
NINE: The Kenya AIDS Vaccination Initiative (KAVI) has stated its willingness to work with the appropriate Nigerian authorities to tackle diseases in a trans-national African effort. KAVI already works with other countries in the East African region such as Uganda and Tanzania.
TEN: In keeping with the title and general theme of this “Weekly Ten”, I will like to draw your attention to this article that examines the apparent increased Nigerian focus in science and technology.