Ladies, leave the room. Now, what's the dirtiest word you'll ever hear in the offices of Manitoba Hydro ? Right. Privatization. So what is Manitoba Hydro doing helping to privatize the entire electrical system of another country? You read that right --- country. The answer is another dirty word --- money . Nigeria's power system is a total disaster. The country is Africa's most populous nation with 160 million people and is Africa's second largest economy. But it only provides enough electricity, as one newspaper described it, to power a medium-sized European city. Two years ago Nigeria's president announced a multi-billion dollar plan to privatize the country's power infrastructure to boost production of electricity. Manitoba Hydro was hired this year to make sure the power that is produced gets to substations where it can be distributed to individuals and companies. In other words, to make Nigeria's power system ...
The origin of the Usher of the Black Rod goes back to early fourteenth century England . Today, with no royal duties to perform, the Usher knocks on the doors of the House of Commons with the Black Rod at the start of Parliament to summon the members. The rod is a symbol for the authority of debate in the upper house. We of The Black Rod adopted the symbol to knock some sense and the right questions into the heads of Legislators, pundits, and other opinion makers.