Am talking about Pastor Mrs Bimbo ODUKOYA who lost her life in the DC9 sosoliso aircrash in por-harcourt, southern NIGERIA. most especially, she touched the lives of SINGLES in the country. She was a woman with reputation. what about you? how are you going to be remembered. start touching lives today. TIG is a oppurtunity. use it to touch lives. and after life here, you will be remembered.

What is epected of the Aviation industry with NIGERIA @ 46? i mean why should a failed Education minister be allowed to minister the aviation industry? where r we heading towards? its just like placing a teacher to run a clinic. its ABSURD !! Professionals should be allowed to run the industry. There are capable people who are there redundant just because politicis has been introduced to every sector in Nigeria.
PLEASE well meaning and concerned Nigerians please join this tread and let us put words together and make a better representation of Nigeria ONLINE.

- Many of 300,000 employed in cocoa production not paid The US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Labour Department released key findings that indicate that some 284,000 child labourers work in hazardous conditions on cocoa farms in West Africa, 200,000 of whom work in Cote d'Ivoire and most of whom work alongside their families. Such hazardous work includes spraying pesticides without personal protection and clearing undergrowth with machetes. There is also evidence that up to 2,500 child workers may have been trafficked for cocoa work in Cote d'Ivoire and Nigeria. More than 4,800 farmers, child and adult workers, and community leaders were interviewed.

The study on child labour on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Cameroon and Ghana was one of the steps agreed last year by labour watchdogs, food makers, millers and consumer groups to end abusive child labour practices by 2005 at the latest.

Some estimates have put the number of child slaves at 15,000, prompting proposals to bar US imports of cocoa unless shippers can prove it was grown without slave labour.

Cocoa is the primary ingredient in making chocolate. Two-thirds of all cocoa products are consumed in Europe and North America. Ivory Coast grows more than 40% of the world's cocoa and neighbouring Ghana is No. 2 with 15%.

"Clearly, poverty is the underlying cause for the child labour situation in West Africa," said Jim Gockowski, the researcher from the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture who supervised the work.

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and national research collaborators in Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria conducted the surveys with the support of USAID and USDOL, the global chocolate industry, ILO-IPEC, and West African governments. The Chocolate Manufacturers Association, a trade group for the U.S. chocolate industry, said the study "confirms the need to address the safety of children on cocoa farms and the economic well-being of cocoa-farming families" as well as supporting the multi-step process to reform labour practices.

Deputy Under Secretary for International Labour Affairs Tom Moorhead said, "These children are not only working in dangerous jobs, they are also losing the chance for an education. But with this survey information we can better define the problem and in turn design a better program to address the problem. Most important is that the chocolate manufacturers and the West African governments have been working closely with us to eliminate exploitative child labour in the cocoa industry."

As part of that effort, an International Cocoa Initiative was launched on July 1 to support field projects and act as a clearinghouse for "best practices" to reform labour practices, to develop a plan to enforce standards against child and forced labour, and to help determine the best ways to monitor and report on compliance with those standards.

From the first contact of colonialism and slavery, Africa was in a constant state of turmoil. Below is a list of events that followed and forever changed the fate of our children.

The diamond and gold rush

Apartheid and the resistance, followed by the Sharpeville killings (see foot note below) massive violation of human rights, including detention with-out trial, which resulted in mysterious deaths (or shall I say murders) of some of the greatest freedom fighters in South African history.

The eventual dismantling of apartheid which led to the eminent release of Mr. Nelson Mandela


After gaining political freedom in 1994 we said: “Free at last”. Free from the minority oppression and domination that ripped the heart and soul from millions of black South Africans.

This heralded a new beginning, the Rebirth of our nation. Never in our wildest dreams could we visualize, as a young democracy, the daunting challenges that we would face, with in our new dispensation. The displacement of huge quantities of people (GROUP AREAS ACT) resulted in the breakdown of economies and the dismantling of the family and community support systems. Our new government inherited huge debts from the previous regime, along with all the baggage incurred during Apartheid, namely:

High unemployment rates

Non-existent social welfare support

Changing parenting patterns

High levels of domestic violence

Low levels of education

High dropout rates at schools

Lack of effective safety and protection services

The breakdown of family structures.

i think that the issue of child labour should be given a permanent solution, taking into consideration the areas of costs and benefits.

i will start by saying that what will happen will happen is the philosophy of the indolent;its only what you make happens that happens.
a lot of people has fallen victims of this.when they find themselves in an unusual situations,they will make the conclusions that it is destined to happen to them.but dont you think its no so?and its only what u make happen that happens?