US President Donald Trump has lauded Nigeria for its handling of the 2014 outbreak of the Ebola virus disease. Trump on Wednesday also said there’s “tremendous business potential” in Africa, revealing that his wealthy friends were investing on the continent.

He said this while hosting President Muhammadu Buhari and other African leaders to a working lunch on the sidelines of the 72nd UN general assembly in New York.

Trump said: “I’m greatly honoured to be joined by leaders of Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Namibia, Senegal, Uganda and South Africa. In particular, I want to thank President Condé, who is representing the African Union.

“In this room, I see partners for promoting prosperity and peace on a range of economic, humanitarian and security issues.

“We hope to extend our economic partnerships with countries who are committed to self-reliance and to fostering opportunities for job creation in both Africa and the United States.

“Africa has tremendous business potential. I have so many friends going to your countries, trying to get rich. I congratulate you.

“They’re spending a lot of money. But it does – it has tremendous business potential and representing huge amounts of different markets. And for American firms it’s really become a place that they have to go – that they want to go.

“Six of the world’s ten fastest-growing economies are in Africa. Increasing American trade and investment across diverse industries – including agriculture, energy, transportation, healthcare, travel, and tourism – will further transform lives throughout the continent.

“Africa, I have to say, is a continent of tremendous potential. The outlook is bright. I look forward to hearing from you and your advice during the meal.

“I really want to congratulate you – growing very fast economically and in every other way. You’ve done a terrific job, you’ve had some tremendous obstacles placed in your path, but you have done really an absolutely incredible job.”

Trump pledged that the US would partner with African countries and organisations, like the African Union, leading successful efforts to end violence to prevent the spread of terrorism and to respond to humanitarian crises.

“I commend your troops currently serving in the field. Very brave. Very, very brave what they’re going through. But we cannot have prosperity if we’re not healthy,” he said.

“We will continue our partnership on critical health initiatives. Uganda has made incredible strides in the battle against HIV/AIDS. In Guinea and Nigeria, you fought a horrifying Ebola outbreak.

“Namibia’s health system is increasingly self-sufficient. My Secretary of Health and Human Services will be traveling to Africa to promote our Global Health Security Agenda.”

The US president, however, regretted that too many people were suffering from conflict in Africa, pointing out the Central African Republic, the Congo, Libya, Mali, Somalia and South Sudan, among others, “were going through dangerous times”.

He noted that terrorist groups, such as ISIS, al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, and al Qaeda threaten African peace, adding that the US was proud to work with African leaders toward eradicating terrorist safe havens, to cut off their finances, and to discredit their depraved ideology.

“And a number of you have told me – actually, last night – that we’ve been doing a very good job over the last six or seven months in particular,” he said.

A 21-year-old aspiring model, Desire Benjamin Chinenye sometimes last year got her skin peeled off after she was involved in an indoor gas explosion.

The incident left her completely burnt and almost to the point of death.

Here’s what happened;

“She woke up at about 6am to boil water to bathe for work, she turned on the gas and struck the matches, it didn’t catch, then she did it again, it was then we heard the explosion.

The fire threw her against the door, and then blocked her exit, according to her, she didn’t know the force dat got her too her feet, and so she entered the fire and rushed out of the kitchen to the room, the fire chased her out, the rug where she was standing on got burnt.”

‘Her family members who had been asleep when the explosion happened jumped out of bed and amidst the chaos, did the first logical thing that came to mind: grabbed a few buckets of water from the bathroom and threw on her. They succeeded in quenching the fire, but by this time, c was so badly burnt and had passed out. ‘

The first hospital they took her to refused to offer any treatment at all. Not because they didn’t want to but because they simply felt there was no point. She was as good as gone- a smouldering remainder of the bubbly girl that Desire had been.

Fast forward to yesterday 20th of September, A new Chinenye, who has now healed and learned how to embrace her scars, shared her story with the 234Stars on what really happened, how she survived and how this incident brought out a new her.

‘I had a friend in the hospital that we used to pray together. One night, her line went flat (ie the electrocardiogram which monitored her heart beat pinged off, signifying that she had stopped breathing).’ Another pointer that the very next second wasn’t guaranteed- she too could simply stop breathing at anytime. But she didn’t.

She endured the pain, sometimes bursting into maniacal laughter from excessive pain that her brain could not properly process. Eventually, by some sort of miracle, the burns healed enough for her to start learning how to walk again before being certified fit to leave the hospital.

It was after I was discharged that the true reality of what happened to me fully dawned on me. Having strangers walk up to me at the mall and tell me to cover up because my scars were “unsightly”, and not being able to go back to work because I felt people will concentrate on My scars more than they would the product I was trying to sell was a constant occurrence and I found herself having to stay indoors for long hours- my slowly healing skin was in danger of itching and getting infected if I was ever in a humid environment anyway.

“That can’t be me,” “I can’t sit in the house because people are not comfortable with how I am. The scars on my body are a sign of victory. I overcame what tried to consume me and I should be proud of it.”

“Some people have scars even if not physically, they have emotional scars. If I’m able to reach out to them, encourage them and try to help them gain back their confidence in anyway that I can, I believe that would be fine.”

Chinenye turns 23 in a couple of weeks! The new her might really be what would help another survivor scale through, if not her scars atleast her story!

The EFCC, Lagos zonal office, has arrested a suspected Internet fraudster, Ake Oluseun, for tax fraud, otherwise known asIjoba in local parlance.

The 30-year-old suspect, a graduate of Computer and Information Science, who owns Canbit Music, Canbit Resources (Nig.) Limited, Istartup Enterprise and Volta Company, allegedly sent an email to an employee of an American company requesting for the W-2s of the staff.

The alleged Badoo shrine belonging to 51-year-old millionaire and popular independent oil marketer, Alhaji Abayomi Alaka, of Alaka Petroleum, that was uncovered in Agbowa has been demolished by the Lagos state government.

Alhaji Abayomi Alaka who denied being a member of the dreaded Badoo cult group – was arrested in August at his Magodo residence in Lagos after police swung into action following the death of five family members who were brutally murdered by the cult group in Ikorodu area of Lagos state.