(PHOTO)Meet 20-year-old who broke record to become youngest commercial pilot in Nigeria and South Africa

 

Favour Odozor, 20, has qualified person with Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) both in Nigeria and in South Africa.

He graduated with fifteen other trained pilots at the Afrika Union Aviation Academy (AUAA), Mafikeng, South Africa.

According to Captain Allam Roebuck, the Director of AUAA, Odozor completed all 37 flying procedures in record time.

“The academy is proud of this young Nigerian, with the award of licence and certificate to him. Today, I can say he is the youngest commercial licence pilot in both Nigeria and South Africa.

“I cannot say now if he is the youngest African to attain that record, but I’m sure he is the youngest in South Africa and Nigeria,’’ he said.

Source-ynaijablog

Mazda,Toyota, Nissan And Honda Recall Millions Of Vehicles Globally

Four Japanese automakers including Toyota Motor Corp, Nissan Motor Co and Honda Motor Co are recalling a total of about 3.4 million vehicles worldwide as a result of an airbag problem, the companies said on Thursday.

Japanese auto parts maker Takata Corp spokesman Toyohiro Hishikawa said the company supplied the airbags related to the recalls.

Toyota is recalling about 1.73 million vehicles globally, including 580,000 vehicles in North America and 490,000 vehicles in Europe because some airbags at the front seat next to the driver may not inflate when necessary, spokesman Ryo Sakai said.

No injuries or deaths have been reported, he said.

Toyota will exchange the faulty inflator with new ones, a fix that is expected to take about an hour to two and a half hours for most models, he said. He declined to give the costs related to the recall.

Honda said it is recalling around 1.14 million vehicles worldwide. Nissan said it is recalling about 480,000 vehicles globally, while Mazda Motor Corp said it is recalling about 45,500 vehicles.

Takata has been informed that carmakers will recall about 2 million vehicles globally due to problems with airbags it had supplied, but not 3.4 million, said Hishikawa. Its shares dropped 9 percent to 1,819 yen on Thurday.

 

 

huffingtonpost

Nigerians Spend N41billion On Champagne Annually

In a report by Euromonitor International, Nigerians spend over N41billion on champagnes anually, making the country the second largest champagne market.

The report indicates that Nigeria is the second fastest growing market in the world for champagne, noting that between 2006 and 2011, it achieved a compound annual growth of 22 percent.

Total champagne consumption reached 752,879 bottles (75cl) in 2011, higher than consumption in Russia and Mexico; therefore, placing Nigeria among the top 20 champagne markets in the world.

In 2010, Nigeria consumed about 593,000 bottles, the highest consumption in Africa. The closest to this figure was South Africa, another country that has been identified as an emerging market for luxury goods, in addition to Nigeria. South Africa’s champagne consumption was 384,000 bottles in 2010.

“Nigerian champagne consumption is quite big,’’ says Charles Armand de Belenet, global marketing and communications director, at Pernod’s GH Mumm and Perrier Jouet Champagne brands, saying “we are building our network here and it is one of the most attractive places for us at the moment.”

It took the European markets by surprise that Nigeria could rank that high in global champagne consumption. Looking at the list of the markets expected to post the strongest gains in total champagne volumes over 2011-2016, France tops the list followed by United Kingdom. Brazil and China are not missing out so are the United States and the upbeat Australian market.

“However, what did come as a surprise was Nigeria’s second place in these global rankings,” says Spiros Malandrakis, senior alcoholic drinks analyst at Euromonitor International, in a keynote presentation at the 2012 Champagne Assembly held in London.

“And the audience’s disbelief was palpable. No-one challenged the data directly and yet many seemed to politely take it with a grain of salt – if only in the light of the dominant, overoptimistic analytical perspective that sees the European debt-crisis saga coming to a happy ending by the end of 2012. Why bother with Nigeria anyway if Europe was about to start popping bottles again in the immediate future?” he says.

Be that as it may, Nigeria’s place in the global consumer market for champagne may have come to stay. The Rose varietals and vintage have been in demand in Nigeria, hence, analysts believe this will increasingly inform the industry direction in 2013.

A visit to the Tiamiyu Savage office of Ekulo Wine World shows that a bottle of Rose champagne is sold for N77, 000, while Demi-set brand is N55, 000 per bottle. Krug and Crystal brands fall among the most expensive, with a bottle going for N165, 000 and N275, 000, respectively.

It is not only European wine producers that are looking into the Nigerian market, distillers from South Africa are also catching in. Wines of South Africa (WOSA), an association of South Africa’s wine exporters, has also seen Nigeria as a promising market.

“Many of the global luxury brands have entered the Nigerian market,” Su Birch, CEO of WOSA, tells Euromonitor International, “and these include several famous-name spirits, as well as champagne brands whose products are being welcomed by the country’s affluent consumers. We know anecdotally from a number of South African producers that there is a robust appetite for premium wines.”

According to the Euromonitor International data, wine consumption in Nigeria grew from 18.8 million litres in 2006 to 44.3 million litres in 2011. This is expected to increase by 80.4 percent, that is, 79.9 million litres by 2016.

Rasheed Gbadamosi, a former economic adviser, says the Nigerian wine industry can blossom even though grapes are not grown in the country. For him, it is not about production of alcoholic wines, fruit wines can be manufactured locally.

“Grapes are not grown here, but they can be imported. If those distillers can penetrate the Nigerian market then we must begin to look at ourselves rather than what others are doing,” he notes.

Breaking News: Ministry of Aviation orders Dana Air to halt operations

Report reaching ukpaka.com says domestic airline, Dana Air on Sunday morning suspended its flight nationwide.

Dana Air spokesman, Tony Usidanem today said the Ministry of Aviation in a letter addressed to the company late Saturday, ordered it to stop operations till further notice.

He said the letter did not give any reason for the immediate suspension.

Usidanem said a meeting with the Ministry on Monday would clarify issues regarding the suspension.

Meanwhile, the ministry is yet to make any official statement on the latest development.

The airline was involved in a fatal crash last year June. At least 160 persons were killed. It lost its license at that period but resumed operations two months ago.

The suspension came days after another major airline halted its operations as a result of industrial action.

Nigerian Couple Creates Talking Dolls to Teach Native African Languages

Nigerian couple Chris and Ada Ngoforo became concerned about their three daughters’ ability to speak and comprehend their native language Igbo when the family relocated to London.

We observed that over 90% of children born or living in the diaspora and millions in Africa do not speak or understand their mother tongues,” says Chris Ngoforo.

Our research made us understand that the reason for this is not because our children don’t want to learn their mother tongues, but more because there are not many essential tools that can easily be both educational and fun at the same time.

Soon after completing their research, the couple launched their own range of toys, called Rooti Dolls, programmed to speak in several native African languages and promote positive self-images. Currently, Rooti Dolls has a range of 12 dolls from different African countries. Each one speaks a combination of languages and has her own story. ”Over the years my wife and I have found it extremely hard finding real black dolls that can truly connect with our little daughters,” Chris Ngoforo says. “The dolls out there in the market are nothing close to the real image of a black child in terms of features and other attributes — they are either too thin, too light or chiseled-faced, and even the complexions of most of the dolls are kind of whitewashed.“

Chris Ngoforo continued: “The unfortunate effect of this stereotypical misrepresentation is a case of low self-esteem among black children who have been directly or indirectly made to believe less in themselves as a black child. They have been made to believe that you have to look like a white doll to be accepted as beautiful or even good.”

Debbie Behan Garrett, author of ”The Definitive Guide to Collecting Black Dolls,” says that black dolls have changed a lot over the years. According to Garrett, in the early days, black dolls portrayed negative images of women.

Today’s black dolls have evolved from negative caricatures to play-scale representations of haute couture fashion models and other positive images of babies, toddlers and adult black people,” says Garrett. She adds, however, that while today’s dolls are more positive representations, “a lack of black dolls is a constant, as black-doll manufacture is often a second thought for those in the business of producing dolls in their image.

Several weeks ago, an image of an African-American doll sporting blonde hair, gold chains, cleavage, and two bags that are strikingly similar to the Louis Vuitton monogram multicolor collection surfaced on the internet and sparked controversy in the Black community.