The Wordsmith Blog™

Pharrell, Beyoncé and Sam Smith lead the field of nominees for the 57th Annual Grammy Awards with nods apiece, including Album of the Year, for which they'll square off against Beck and Ed Sheeran. Below is the full list of nominations for the Grammy Awards 2015: ALBUM OF THE YEAR • Morning Phase, Beck • Beyoncé, Beyoncé • X, Ed Sheeran • Girl, Pharrell • In the Lonely Hour, Sam Smith RECORD OF THE YEAR • "Fancy," Iggy Azalea Featuring Charli XCX • "Chandelier," Sia • "Stay With Me (Darkchild Version)," Sam Smith • "Shake It Off," Taylor Swift • "All About That Bass," Meghan Trainor SONG OF THE YEAR • "All About That Bass," Kevin Kadish & Meghan Trainor, songwriters (Meghan Trainor) • "Chandelier," Sia Furler & Jesse Shatkin, songwriters (Sia) • "Shake It Off," Max Martin, Shellback & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Taylor Swift) • "Stay With Me (Darkchild Version)," James Napier

‎ First, Baba(As he is fondly called) released his bombshell titled "Before It Is Too Late", now what do we call this, An Atomic Bomb?  If mere excerpts would be this revelational, one can only imagine what the entire book has in stock for readers.  I do not know, neither can tell what would happen to this book eventually (considering on-going legal restraints on its circulation). Perhaps Nigerians would get to have their copies legally or otherwise or not get them at all? Meanwhile, here's a peep into the book. Bellow is an excerpt from "MY WATCH" "By the Constitution, I had to inaugurate or prorogue the National Assembly on June 4, 1999. The most important officer in the National Assembly is the senate president and that office had been zoned to the South-east. And here was where Atiku Abubakar, my vice-president,first showed his hand and his character. "Without seeking my view or approval, he started planning the installation of Chuba Okadigbo as th

See Bellow full text of the speech given by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari at the Eagles Square during his formal declaration for the presidency. . . . First I would like, Mr Chairman, if I may, pay tribute to Nigerians as a whole who are enduring all sorts of hardships and deprivations on a daily basis. Many millions are grappling with extreme poverty and barely eking out a living. Nearly all are in fear of their lives or safety for themselves and their families due to · Insurgency by the godless movement called Boko Haram; · By marauding murderers in towns and villages; · By armed robbers on the highways; · By kidnappers who have put whole communities to fright and sometimes to flight. Ladies and gentlemen, it is everyone's duty to resolve and help the national effort to overcome these immense challenges. I would like us to place on record our appreciation for the efforts of our Armed Forces under new leadership and police in confronting these challenges. I would like, secondly, to thank

Let's correct a notion about the EBV (Ebola Virus), at the INFECTIVE stage, the victim would already be VERY SICK and most probably bed ridden, you WON'T find such WALKING AROUND. Not at malls, Not at parties, Not in church or mosque....once they're infectious, they're grounded by the virus. Quit evicting your Liberian tenants (Some Lagos landlords have been reported to be taking this to the heights already), stop stigmatizing your East African friends or anyone known to have traveled there recently, stop this worry about hand shakes and hugs. Don't be too quick to label as sick person as an Ebola Virus victim. Stop the cursing and stigmatization of all forms. Let's educate ourselves about the virus, read online, ask questions and get. In the know. Displaying horrific pictures of victims on your social networks is no way near making you a star or information guru. Spread knowledge and not ignorance. Help Stop This Panic, panicking its in itself most da

Lagos Confirms 59 People Placed On Surveillance For Ebola; ASky Airline Uncooperative With Flight Manifest No fewer than 59 people who had contacts with the Ebola virus victim who died in Lagos last week have been placed on close surveillance, the state government disclosed on Monday. It added that the precise number of passenger contacts is yet to be ascertained due to non-cooperation of the airline that brought the victim to Lagos. Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, announced this yesterday at a new conference held in conjunction with Federal Ministry of Health officials at the Staff Clinic in Alausa, Ikeja. "So far a total of 59 contacts have been registered consisting the hospital contacts, healthcare workers, laboratory staff and Airport contacts comprising three Economic Communities of West African States (ECOWAS) staff-driver, Liaison, and Protocol officer, Nigerian Ambassador to Monrovia, two Nursing staff and five Airport passenger handlers," he sai

INEC releases candidates' list for August 9 poll • 20 political parties for election • 1, 407, 222 voters registered • 29 domestic and foreign observer groups to be present • Appoints 11-man committee on election security THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has released an information kit for the August 9, 2014 governorship election in Osun State. The kit shows a total of 1, 407, 222 valid number of registered voters (post-March 2014 Continuous Voter Registration (CVR)). This number is spread across the 30 local councils of the state, which has 332 wards (registration areas), 3,010 polling units and 3,379 voting points. The gender distribution of the voter population indicates that the males are 661,394 (47 per cent) and the females 745,828 (53 per cent). A breakdown of the voter population by local council areas shows that Atakumosa East has 31,136 registered voters; Atakumosa West (24,569); Ayedaade (51, 252); Ayedire (25,899); Boluwaduro (16,844); Boripe (47,137

Just last week, the global smart phone maker introduced into the Nigerian market, BlackBerry Z3 , a product that is within the reach of an average Nigerian BlackBerry Territory Director, East, West, Central and Southern Africa, Mr Charles Asinugo, who spoke to Technology Journalists during the introduction of the new product in Lagos said with optimism that the Canadian smart phone maker was restructuring to regain its lead position in the competitive smart phone market. He said that the introduction of the device was part of the company's restructuring mechanism to regain market lead in the smart phone ecosystem. "The BlackBerry Z3 extends the BlackBerry 10 platform to a new generation of customers in Nigeria at an attractive price point and offers them more ways to securely communicate, collaborate and be productive with an experience built on reliable, secure communications. "The device features a stylish design with a 5" touch display, an unrivalled messaging and

A woman writes to the IT Technical support Guy Dear Tech Support, Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and I noticed a distinct slowdown in the overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewellery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0. In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled another valuable program, Romance 9.5. And then installed undesirable programs such as NEWS 5.0, MONEY 3.0 and CRICKET 4.1. What can I do? Reply: Dear Madam, First, keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system. Please enter command: www.ithoughtyoulovedme.html and try to download Tears 6.2. Then it will automatically runs the applications Jewellery 2.0 and Flowers 3.5. However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Silence 2.5 or Beer 6.1. Also DO NOT disturb the original package of Husband 1.0.... Otherwise new virus Girlfried 2.5 automatically downloaded into yo

................................. ................................. There is a reason behind the color and smell A trip to the toilet may be more revealing than you think. "The appearance and smell of your urine—as well as the frequency with which you have to go—can provide many clues to what else is going on in your body," I hope this quells somebody's worries and/or insinuations. I also believe it would be as informative to you as I thought it would. 1) Looking pale If your urine is as colorless as water, well, that's probably because you've been drinking a lot of water. And besides the inconvenience of going to the bathroom many times a day because your bladder is filling up with fluid faster, there's really nothing medically worrisome about having a light colored output. 2) Too dark If your urine has a brownish, iced tea-colored tinge, that could be a sign that you are dehydrated and the kidney is producing more concentrated (as opposed to diluted) urine.

Remember when Sergio Ramos dropped the Coppa del Rey while celebrating Real Madrid's victory in the Spanish cup? And how the bus then drove over the trophy? Well, Germany have managed something even more embarrassing. Yes, Die Nationalmannschaft have managed to take a piece out of the World Cup. When Germany returned home with the trophy, wild celebrations ensued in Berlin, complete with a dramatic unveiling of Philipp Lahm holding the prize aloft. But somewhere amidst all the jumping, frolicking and merriment-making, the Cup sustained a bit of damage. In fact, a small piece of it is now missing, as the German Football Federation president president Wolfgang Niersbach revealed. "At one point, a small piece of our World Cup trophy was chipped off," Niersbach told Die Welt. "But do not worry! We have specialists on the case who can fix it. We have investigated persistently who it was that damaged the trophy, but the investigation was concluded without a result

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has approved 10 days paternity leave for any male civil servant in the state whose wife delivers a new baby. The measure is to afford them the opportunity of attending to developmental needs of the child. Fashola also jerked up the maternity leave from three months to six, to allow the nursing mother give their child exclusive breastfeeding for the period. Head of Service, HOS, Mrs. Oluseyi William, who disclosed this yesterday, at a joint briefing with the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Lateef Ibirogba and Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Health, Dr. Yewande Adeshina, in Ikeja, said the new approved policy took immediate effect. According to Williams, "male officers to whom a new baby (or babies in case of multiple birth) is born would be entitled to 10 working days paternity leave in relation to and at the time of his spouse's first two deliveries. "Female officers shall be entitled to 24 week

ETIQUETTE ESSENTIALS: Do's and Don'ts of Workplace Etiquette Keep the work flowing smoothly with these tips for office etiquette. I hope you are off/set for the closing phases of July? Its been a cold rainy month. Here are a few basic etiquette pointers to keep things cool and copasetic in the workplace. 1) Do respect your coworker's space. Offices, even if they are cubicles or open desks, should be respected as belonging to the 'owner.' Knock on the cubicle door or otherwise announce yourself and refrain from leaning on someone else's desk. 2) Don't default 'reply all'. Keep 'reply all's' to a minimum and only when the whole group is interested in your answer. When sending a group email where replies only need to be directed to you, consider BCC. Instead, be a good email-er and preface subject lines with FYI: or Response needed: (just keep URGENT: for the most important situations- or try a phone call!) 3) Do make work-friends. Some of

Nigerians(To Whom It May Concern) can now start getting prepared for a change of particulars as regards their states of origin. Following the proposition submitted and accepted by delegates at the National Conference, 19 new states are to be created out of the existing 36. Details of the 19 new states proposed by the ongoing National Conference t be created in addition to the 36 already in existence have been identified. This was contained in the documents obtained Saturday. For the proposed Edu State, which will be created out of the present Niger State, it will be made up of Agagie, Bida North, Edati, Agbakoba, Katcha, Lapai, Labun and Mokwa Local Governments with its capital in Bida. Apa State will be carved out of the present Benue State and made up of Agatu, Apa, Otukpo, Oju, Obi, Obi, Ohimini, Okpokwu and Ofbadigbo Local Government Areas with capital in Otukpo. If Kainji State is created, it will be created from the present Kebbi and Niger states and it will be made up of Danko/W