Grooming the next Generation of Advertising Leaders, by Jimi Awosika

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Grooming the next Generation of Advertising Leaders, by Jimi Awosika Mar 31st 2013, 23:47 By Jimi Awosika Insight Communications MD, Mr. Jimi Awosika Photo: Insight   Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen. ……………………………………………………………….. Listen to Bon Jovi: ‘Is it just me or does anybody see The new improved tomorrow isn't what it used to be Yesterday keeps comin' 'round, it's just reality It's the same damn song with different melody The market keeps on crashing'   Tattered jeans are back in fashion 'Steady of records, now it's MP3s I tell you one more time with feeling Even though this world is reeling You're still you and I'm still me I didn't mean to cause a scene I didn't mean to cause a scene But I guess it's time to roll up our sleeve ………………………………………………………………………. ‘The more things change, the more they stay the same’   Lyrics from Bon Jovi: THE MORE THINGS CHANGE So, in contemplating the purpose of this gathering as a celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Cannes Lion, my heart is stirred into the frame of homily. Not to pontificate, but to ruminate on my thirty six years of practice in our beloved profession; Marketing Communication. And so today, I think about the Biodun Shobanjos, the Banjo Solarus, the Ted Mukoros amongst other great mentors and industry leaders. These are some of the great people I observed, or to put it more correctly, I studied as they elevated a then relatively unknown profession in these parts into a respectable and valuable one that has brought fame and fortune to a long list of advertisers and practitioners. Such mentors infected us with the appeal and passion for the advertising industry as it was then called. So in the context and purpose of today's event' I am inevitable led to think: What challenges must we be giving to them? What should we be telling them?   I am here to talk about 'Grooming the Next Generation of industry leaders'; a subject that elicits the imperative of our existence as human beings. It compels us to appreciate that what any preceding generation must do is to prepare the coming generation for the challenges of tomorrow. It's about the dynamics of parenting the progeny as captured in the old ad slogan: ‘You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation.’ This readily brings to my mind the motivation that led us at Insight Communications to establish the first programme that was designed to develop Graduate Trainee for Leadership of the industry. Today it is the humbling fact that an enviable percentage of leaders of top Marketing Communication companies in Nigeria are alumni of this programme which began in 1990.   Engagement Here, I would like to address the need for us to engage a strategy that would raise what I call the pride quotient in our profession. The Pride Quotient that young leaders have for our profession must be maintained at a very high degree because today's young generation; more than that preceding them has been so incredibly empowered by both technological advancement and liberal world view. So they have become very ambitious about ‘making a dent in the universe’. And that's why far beyond being simple seen as people who work to ‘put food on the table’, we must make the Next Gen realize that they are crucial to sustaining the world's socio-economic ecosystem. They must be made to see that as practitioners, they are actually modulators of culture; trendsetters who craft the narrative of development of products that continuously improve the quality of life consumers. This gives us all our identity strength. After all, creating appeal for products, services and causes should come naturally to us as practitioners of Marketing Communication, since creating appeal for client's brands in the hearts of the consumers is our Job 1. Physicians heal thyself; you'd say! We must make the profession cool. Generation Yers consider something cool when it is attractive to them. Here cool stands for trendy, high status, successful, creative, fun, contemporary. In this regard, it is created by the work we do, so when we commit to doing great work that young people love, they 'd love to be part of the profession that does such work. We see therefore that we must commit to very high standards of creativity. And this is why I commend the effort of Chini to provide the opportunity of the Cannes Lion platform so that young people can access and be inspired by the very best of creativity in the world. Story telling session is a must.  My position is that we should invite our successful veterans to tell their stories APCON, AAAN and Chini must collaborate on this forum with a tentative name being ‘Hand over Notes’ Education: Ladies and Gentlemen, we are in the brain race where knowledge resources such as know-how are expertise are critical as other economic resources. The advertising business is a spin. So isn’t it a danger that our ads are still so generic? As the world is now fully entrenched in the ideas economy, the imperative for instant education; that is education that is relevant to proving solutions to ever emerging challenges in real time is indeed. Today is the day of the Artist. And Artist here means anyone-Copywriter, Engineer, Chef, the Artiste as we know them traditionally, et cetera-who matches insight with courage to change the status quo. For what can you say about the phenomenon in which Clients are finding their creative sources in musicians and designers? Will.i.am is Director of Creative Innovation for Intel. Alicia keys is Creative Director for Blackberry Lady Gaga is Creative Director for Polaroid. Marc Jacobs is Creative Director for Diet Coke. And if all this sounds too far out, then watch out for a brand near you. Don Jazzy has signed a contract to design Samsung music system for Africa. This new trend is having these creative artistes replace most of the roles that agency creative and creative producers played in the past. A cursory investigation into this trend will reveal that these companies believe that these artistes enable their brands to talk to new audiences by driving engagement and positive, authentic perceptions. And as Clients are beginning to see value in the idea of baking marketing and marketing communication into the design of their products and services, the role of the agency creative will continue to dwindle, if we don't change the current model of how we train our people. As you can see therefore, the new competition is not really between Agencies but between creative sources. We must expose and educate our young professionals to be able to lead Client in new thinking and practices of global dimensions. We have to retain the upcoming advertising people in the new skills and attitudes possessed by these new creative that makes them adept at mining popular culture for insights which enable them to design communication solutions that build authentic connections with consumers. Our next generation of leaders must see that today, the world is their stage; and at their feet. After all, creativity is creativity. We must realize that we are not the only repositories of knowledge and skills of effective communication and so we must equip our upcoming leaders with future-proof and competitive training. This is the mindset that made an Amos Tutuola trained Blacksmith and T.M Aluko, a trained Engineer who stand peer-to-peer with the Chinua Achebes and Wole Soyinkas who were trained as writers. So it is not about the profession that you are trained for. It is about an adaptive mindset and relevant retraining. We need leaders who are adept in leading thought that finds solutions that resonate with today's distracted consumer in the ever-fragmenting media landscape. This is how the new ad agencies should be thinking. The developments that have changed the dynamics of communication and social relationships; lead me to propose that we are no longer Marketing Communications Practitioners but Marketing Conversation Practitioners. It is a paradigm that we must embrace; if we are to be relevant to today's connected and incredibly aware and aware and empowered generation. We must accept chaos as the new normal as the advertising business continues forever in a spin. This is why I call for a mind shift that takes consideration of this new thinking where our young people are taught the way to see through the chaos to sift patterns that lead them into insights for making coherence out of disparate tendencies. Insight is forever key; as solutions will always be derived out of insight and understanding. Again remember Bon Jovi. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Inherent in this notion is the promise of business sustainability, in addition to satisfying the existential sentiment of making meaning out of our long lives spent in work. We need to build our tomorrow now. MOTIVATION We should challenge our young colleagues to see immeasurable opportunity that awaits anyone who steps forward to offer the way out of the chaos. For this is what a leader means in essence-anyone who steps forward to confront a challenge and shows the way out for others to follow. This presupposes the need for an emphasis on intelligence of a new kind; if we are to win the war of attrition that is buffeting our profession from all comers. Again, take the case of the blogger for example. A blogger could have more followers than all the national media channels combined. That's a one-person publishing conglomerate, whose infrastructure is a brain and a computer. Or even a tablet or phone. See what that means for your media revenue The new intelligence that we need to engage should rather read 'in-telligence'- the kind that soldiers employ to learn about the position at which the enemy is vulnerable. This is the kind of motivation that we should be giving our  next generation. In Naija terms, we can call the first module "Shine Your Eye 101" At this celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Lions let me pass my congratulation through Chini to the great minds behind the institution that the Cannes Lions has come to be. Let me congratulate Chini for stepping forward to bring the benefits that Cannes Lions provides for our industry and country. Ladies and gentlemen, we stand at a place of immense opportunity, to provide solutions for Clients who are daily confronted by the challenges that have placed businesses in a spin. We must meet this challenge by engaging, educating and motivating our upcoming generation for leadership so that they can take the helm in doing what the world needs us for-that is improving the quality of life and living as we connect the producers of good and services with consumers   Full text of an address by Jimi Awosika, MD Insight Grey, at the Nigeria celebration on the 60th Anniversary of the Cannes Lion at the Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos on Saturday March 30, 2013.

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the first official nollywood porn video...lol

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the first official nollywood porn video...lol Apr 1st 2013, 00:09 Is this movie, Bold 5 Babes, out? . See it after the cut... Read more »

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Hend soars to three-shot victory

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Hend soars to three-shot victory Mar 31st 2013, 23:00 Big-hitting Australian Scott Hend capitalised on Prayad Marksaeng's spectacular final-round meltdown to lift the Chiangmai Golf Classic on Sunday. Thailand's Prayad blew a five-shot lead and the chance to win his second tournament at home this month as Hend carded a sparkling eight-under-par 64 for a total of 20-under-par 268 to win his third Asian Tour title by three strokes. South Africa's Bryce Easton, playing his first Asian Tour event, also shot a 64 for a 17-under 271 to take second place while Prayad finished a shot further behind on third with a final-round two-over-par 74 at the Alpine Golf Resort-Chiangmai.

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Obi pays medical bills for 25 Anambra patients

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Obi pays medical bills for 25 Anambra patients Mar 31st 2013, 23:00 Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State on Sunday paid the hospital bills of 25 indigent patients at Holy Rosary Hospital, Waterside, Onitsha. The governor, who visited the hospital as part of his Easter celebration, also spent time interacting with the sick. He eventually settled the bills of 10 discharged indigent patients, who were not allowed to go home because they could not settle their bills at the hospital. He also settled the bills of 15 women that were delivered of new born babies in the hospital. The governor said beyond the Easter celebration, the gesture was a way of identifying with the people and letting them know that the governor felt for them at all times. One of the beneficiaries from the governor's gesture, Sgt. Kevin Osai, thanked the governor for his commitment to the welfare of the ordinary people. Meanwhile, the state government is to establish rural maternity centres in partnership with the church. Obi disclosed this on Sunday while laying the foundation stone of an ultra-modern pharmacy and diagnostic centre at Holy Rosary Specialist Hospital and Maternity, Waterside, Onitsha. The governor, who also presented a cheque of N10m to support the project, said the state government was expanding its collaboration with the church by initiating more projects. He described the maternity centres as part of initiatives to scale up interventions towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

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Climate change threatens urban poor food security – Report

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Climate change threatens urban poor food security – Report Mar 31st 2013, 23:00 Policies to increase food security in the global South focus too much on rural food production and not enough on ensuring poor people can access and afford food, especially in urban areas, says a report published on Thursday by the International Institute for Environment and Development. It warns that climate change will only make this policy gap worse, because its impacts will affect not only harvests, but also the systems that people use to transport, store and buy and sell food. "Food security is back on the agenda thanks to rising prices and the threat that climate change poses to agricultural production," says the report's author, Dr. Cecilia Tacoli. "But policies that focus on rural food production alone will not tackle the rising food insecurity in urban areas. We also need policies that improve poor people's ability to access and afford food, especially in urban areas." Most people in urban areas must buy their food and this makes the urban poor particularly at risk. Any climate-induced disruption to food production, transport and storage – either in the urban area itself or in distant farmland – can affect food supplies and prices in urban areas, according to the report. Yet most policies that aim to increase food security focus solely on boosting production from farms and fisheries in rural areas. "The journey that food takes from a rural producer to an urban consumer involves many steps," says Tacoli. "It must travel through formal and informal systems as it is stored, distributed and sold. Each one of these steps is a point of potential vulnerability to climate change. For consumers, this will mean sharp and sudden increases in food prices" The report highlights the link between income poverty and food insecurity in urban areas. For most low-income urban citizens, food represents a sizeable portion of the money they spend. Even small increases in price would, therefore, have big impacts on food security, with citizens reducing the amount and quality of the food they buy. For the residents of informal urban settlements, food insecurity is also the consequence of lack of space to store and cook food, lack of time to shop and prepare meals, inadequate access to clean water and often non-existing sewage systems. These settlements are disproportionately affected by floods, typhoons, heat waves and other impacts of climate change because they tend to be located in areas more exposed to these events, and because they lack the most basic infrastructure.

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Globacom expands network,upgrades infrastructure

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Globacom expands network,upgrades infrastructure Mar 31st 2013, 23:00 Telecommunications operator, Globacom, has commenced a massive network expansion and technical upgrade that will significantly enhance the quality of customer experience. A statement from the firm on Thursday quoted its Group Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Mohamed Jameel, as saying that as part of the 10th anniversary celebration, Glo was investing heavily in upscaling the network to the latest technology in global telecommunications. Jameel explained that the expansion project, which had already started, involved network upgrade and overhaul of infrastructure across the country as well as expansion and densification projects that would on completion in the next one year enable the network to cater for its existing and potential subscribers. "This will make Globacom the number one network in terms of investment," he said. The project, according to the firm, includes building of new switches, increasing of mobile switching centres to ease congestion and construction of additional 4,000 km of optic fibre cable, which will complement the existing fibre optic facility which is the most extensive fibre coverage of Nigeria. Glo has state-of-the-art IP/MPLS and TDM technologies (30 gigabyte capacity) to meet requirements of enterprise customers, video, voice and data services. The TDM network is being upgraded to a fully integrated Generalised Multi-protocol Label Switching. Part of the upgrade includes the installation of new base stations and densification of existing ones, setting up of three new mini call centres across the country to take care of vast increase in subscriber figures and upgrade of the radio access network, which will ensure that customers enjoy unparalleled speed and reliability. He added, "We are building a brand new network based on latest technology and adequate capacity to cater for our growing subscriber base. The project will include the optimisation of the existing Base Transceiver Stations both 2G and 3G for high speed data transmission, full integration of our backbone infrastructure with the Glo 1 international submarine cable and upgrade of the high capacity IP-based radio access network, which will ensure that our data customers enjoy unparalleled speed and reliability.

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Guild woos town planners to tackle building collapse

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Guild woos town planners to tackle building collapse Mar 31st 2013, 23:00 The rank of professionals in the built environment teeming up to fight the scourge of building collapse is swelling by the day and the umbrella organisation formed specifically for that purpose, the Building Collapse Prevention Guild, appears to be making an inroad among the experts. During a membership recruitment visit to the secretariat of the Lagos State chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners last week, the group sought to have more members of NITP on board in view of their critical role in human settlement and urban planning. The President, BCPG, Mr. Kunle Awobodu, explained that the mission of the group was to completely eliminate the embarrassing incidents of building collapse in Lagos State in particular, and the entire country in general. In demonstration of its seriousness, Awobodu said the group had embarked on the sensitisation and training of bricklayers, concrete workers and other artisans in the state so as to eradicate building collapse. He said all professionals in the built environment needed to work together and put their houses in order so as to monitor construction activities in the state and report to the appropriate authorities when errors that could lead to collapse of buildings were found on construction sites. Awobodu said the visit of BCPG was to let the town planners see the need to join the group, adding that other professional bodies in the built environment had joined. He allayed their fear, saying that BCPG was not out to compete with them but to complement their activities in the area of building control and monitoring. The president said members of BCPG, who are experts in the built environment, had been distributed to monitor physical development in all the 57 Local Government Councils and Local Council Development Areas in Lagos State, and would report to relevant government agencies wherever they discovered shoddy jobs. According to him, the members are to monitor physical development activities in their assigned areas and determine if building owners or contractors were using the right construction method, materials, designs and professionals in order to eradicate building collapse Responding, Chairman, NITP, Lagos State chapter, Mr. Ayo Adediran, commended BCPG for the various sensitisation and training programmes for artisans and concrete workers it undertook recently. He said members of the institute were ready to embrace and join the group, but urged Awobodu to follow due process by registering the group according to the laws of the state. Other town planners, who spoke at the occasion, lauded the initiative and collected registration forms to join the group. Commenting on the visit, Mr. Chike Enenmoh, a quantity surveyor, said it was part of the collaboration with different professional bodies within the built environment to enable them carry out the crusade against building collapse. According to him, BCPG has provided the platform for all professional bodies to work in a cohesive manner and in harmony towards providing better value for money to clients. He said the platform would help to de-emphasise the issues of rivalry among professionals in the built environment. "The issue of building collapse is a menace within the Lagos environment and in Nigeria, and BCPG has provided the platform for professionals to work together to put an end to  it. We are getting good responses. We need to counsel people and carry them along for us to achieve the aim," Enenmoh said. Another member, Mrs. Angela Jagun, a builder, said essence of the visit was to draw the planners to join the crusade against building collapse. Other members of the BCPG team in attendance at the meeting were the President, Nigerian Institution of Structural Engineers, Mr. Busola Awojobi; first female registered town planner in Nigeria, Mrs. Kehinde George; Mr. George Akinola, an architect; Mr. Adegoke Alani; Mr. Niyi Fatokun; Mr. Lynus Aiteobhor; Jagun and Enenmoh.

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Why Jonathan is not active on Twitter – Omokri

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Why Jonathan is not active on Twitter – Omokri Mar 31st 2013, 23:00 In the wake of constant criticism of President Goodluck Jonathan on social media, his Special Assistant on New Media, Reno Omokri, speaks in an online interview with TEMITAYO FAMUTIMI on his job and his boss' rating Why is the President's social media presence not being felt on social networks other than Facebook? I will disagree with you. The President has a presence on other New Media platforms. He does not have to be there in person but his symbols are there. Dr. Reuben Abati (Presidential Adviser on Media and Publicity) is the President's voice. He is on Twitter and very successfully,  I might add. The President would not just do things because others are doing it. Don't forget he has a PhD. He is a philosopher king and so he thinks before he acts. Now speaking about Twitter, you need to understand that it is a medium for instant communication. Now for such a medium,  when you have many competing voices,  people will sometimes feel they have to do something different, may be something shocking, in order to stand out. As such,  people can lose their sense of proportion in order to get instant notoriety on Twitter. This is a phenomenon that started in the United States. On Twitter, if given the choice, people choose to say what will get noticed over what represents their minds. In many cases, the object is not to communicate, it is to be popular. And if you ever went to  high school or college in the United States,  you know that the personality of the popular kids is a facade that quickly falls apart when they graduate from high school or college and move on to the real world.  President Jonathan and his party are both loved and hated on social media but their performance in terms of increasing the Gross Domestic Product of Nigeria, revamping the railways and making it possible to travel from Lagos to Kano in 30 hours for N1,500, ensuring a modest and continuing increase in electricity generation, has earned them popularity in the real world. President Jonathan is the African President with the highest following on Facebook. What factors would you adduce to this?  One achievement of President Goodluck Jonathan,  which goes by unnoticed,  is the fact that he  has changed the perception that the world has about Nigerians and the Internet. Of course, we all know the stereotype of the Nigerian email or such other schemes and it is a stereotype because many of these schemes have been proven to originate from outside Nigeria. And many may ask, why has the President of Nigeria achieved more success on Facebook, especially when compared to leaders of nations that have a better Internet penetration rate than Nigeria? In my opinion, the reason is because what President Jonathan thinks, feels and says are communicated in such a clear and unambiguous manner that when it gets to the intended recipient of the message, whether that is the Nigerian public, the General Assembly of the United Nations or any target audience, they can perceive the integrity of his message and even if they do not agree with it they can at least say that they understand what he is trying to say. In summary, what can be said is that President Jonathan's message is easily understood because it is sincere. Does the President ever check his Facebook fan page? If yes, how often? Let's leave those ones. How many social/digital media media projects/campaigns have you embarked upon as the SA(New Media) to the President and how successful are they? Let's leave those ones. How do you and Mr. President handle bad comments and uncomplimentary remarks on the President's Facebook account? I challenge you to do a scientific analysis of the comments on the President's Facebook page when next he puts up an update. For instance, one of his last few updates had about 20,000 comments. It is still there. Go and check it out. Now of those 20,000 comments, the vast majority were positive. Many of them are messages of support. A lot are prayers. There were and will always be the naysayers. But, Individuals, nations and humanity as a whole tend to perform better under a banner of approval than under a cloud of criticism. Not that people should not criticise, but if you must criticise with ideas not with insults. If the Good Samaritan was a critic instead of a problem solver, who would have remembered him? You do not do constructive criticism with insults. It is like trying to build a house with a bulldozer. You end up destroying instead of building. How did you become a new media enthusiast?  While in the United States I worked at Trippi and Associates and my then boss, Joe Trippi, wrote the Bible for new media engagement – titled 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised'. He was then the campaign manager of Governor Howard Dean of Vermont, United States and he was the first person to use new media for political purposes on an organised scale. You cannot be around such a person and something will not rub off. This was, however, before Facebook. When Facebook came on stream, I returned home from work one day and saw my wife on it and I asked her what it was and she told me it was a new social media forum for connecting with old friends.  That was how my wife introduced me to Facebook and I just ran with it and the rest is history.  What is your job description as the Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on New Media? My job entails a lot and I am not sure how much I can say in public but let me just say that I am a firm believer in the President's Transformation Agenda and with the fear of God I do all in my power to advance the President's agenda on all available new media platforms. How challenging is your job?  The job is quite tasking especially given the attitude of Nigerians to people in government which is as a result of their experience under military rule and is quite understandable. There is a lot of anger from Nigerians,  which was pent up in the past but because they now have a God-fearing leader, who is able to handle dissent, the lid has been blown off and a small vocal minority has organised, sometimes behind people with an agenda, to vent their anger. But that notwithstanding, I do not see young Nigerians as children of anger. For example, young Nigerians gave Nigeria Nollywood which is now the third largest movie industry in the world.

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Re: Clinton on Nigeria: The unlearnt lessons

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Re: Clinton on Nigeria: The unlearnt lessons Mar 31st 2013, 23:00 Prof. Ayo Olukotun’s article, Clinton on Nigeria: The Unlearnt lessons, hit the nail on the head in his critical comments on Mr. Bill Clinton’s indictment of our parasitic ruling class. But like Clinton’s, the article was one-sided. The role of imperialism in promoting the underdevelopment of  Nigeria was conveniently left out in both comments. It is on record that Clinton fully supported the anti-people's policies imposed on Africa by the IMF/World Bank. Why is he shedding crocodile tears now? In his eight-year tenure, President Clinton turned down the requests of the local human rights community  that western governments sanction corrupt Nigerian officials whose stolen wealth is kept in the vaults of European and American banks. While in power, Clinton condemned official graft in Nigeria but refused to name and shame those who were behind it. He even supported General Sani Abacha to transit to a civilian President, even though the US government had evidence of his looting spree. While it is indisputable that Nigerian rulers have not invested  wisely, western leaders who collude with them should not be celebrated when they make hypocritical statements. If Clinton, Tony Blair, Lady Chalker and their ilk want to be taken seriously, they  should collaborate with progressive Africans who are demanding the repatriation of the looted wealth of the African people from Europe and other tax-free Islands. When President Barack Obama made a brief stopover in Ghana three years ago, he  blamed corruption as the cause of the continent’s backwardness. I disagreed with his reductionist theory and challenged him to use his position to stop capital flight from the continent. Since then, Washington has even refused to name the Nigerian officials involved in scams such as Halliburton, Wilbros, which have been investigated by  the FBI. Femi Falana, SAN Ikeja, Lagos

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Return of looted funds

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Return of looted funds Mar 31st 2013, 23:00 Chief lmam Taofeek Sanni, Trade Fair Complex, Central Mosque, Lagos State, +23480596177: The news making the rounds that Britain is considering the return of slush funds back to Nigeria is most unwelcome. I have some misgivings. Will Nigeria be a safe haven for such funds? The vultures are hovering to devour it with great venom. I cannot vouch for the integrity of this government to manage such funds. It will be a return to the status quo: looting spree extravaganza. What purpose will it serve to return the funds and allow such to be "re-exported" back to London etc? It will be a vicious circle; a merry-go-round sort of. I pray that the funds be left in the safe vaults of London. There, necessary institutions are in place to handle itching palms that may want to play games. But here, what awaits such felons are lack of diligent prosecution, resulting in slap on the wrist judgments reprieve by way of state pardon and national honours award.

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No to loot return

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No to loot return Mar 31st 2013, 23:00 APEJI Bello, Obadore Lagos State, +23480334490: I read a report in page 2 of The PUNCH of Thursday, March 28, 2013 with viperous annoyance. The story says, "UK may return stolen subsidy fund to Nigeria". One would want to know how the loot seized here in Nigeria were re-injected into the economy to the relief of the common man, to warrant the return of the UK stolen subsidy refund. The common man on the street believes the 'big men' will share the fund if returned. Therefore, I appeal that the fund be kept in the UK until a "common man-friendly government" is in power, even if this means the fund be there for our next generation.

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Defection: One killed in Ekiti violence

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Defection: One killed in Ekiti violence Mar 31st 2013, 23:00 Violence broke out in Erijiyan Ekiti in Ekiti West Local Government Area on Saturday night as hoodlums shot dead a man identified as Mr. Ayo Jeje in front of his house. The deceased was said to be one of the members of the Action Congress of Nigeria, who were scheduled to defect to the Peoples Democratic Party on Sunday. Our correspondent gathered that an elderly woman and another man were shot and injured by the hoodlums, who unleashed terror on the community. The hoodlums were also said to have vandalised houses and vehicles of members of PDP in the community. A PDP member, Dr. Emmanuel Fasanu, told our correspondent on the telephone on Sunday that his vehicle and those belonging to other PDP members  were  also vandalised by the hoodlums. Fasanu alleged that the killing and the destruction were carried out by hoodlums allegedly hired by ACN to disrupt the planned defection of thousands of  members of the ruling party to PDP. Chairman of PDP in the state, Mr. Makanjuola Ogundipe, in a statement by his media aide, Mr. Femi Omolusi, claimed that   Jeje, Adewumi and others were attacked "where they were meeting to fine-tune their preparation for  a programme, during which Mr. Segun Adewumi wants to lead over 1,000 members of ACN to PDP." Ogundipe charged the police to arrest the killers of Jeje and those who unleashed terror on the community. However, Chairman of ACN in the state, Chief Jide Awe, who is an indigene of Erinjiyan Ekiti, while speaking with our correspondent on the telephone, said his party knew nothing about the killing. Awe said the killing in Erijiyan followed the pattern of violence earlier recorded in the state, saying the fight was between a faction of the PDP which did not want another faction to hold its programme. He stated that a faction of the PDP heard that the Minister of Police Affairs, Navy Capt. Caleb Olubolade (retd); and former Governor Ayo Fayose would attend the PDP programme in Erijiyan and orchestrated the violence to prevent the gathering. He said, "The man  (name withheld) has been around since Friday. He is a gunrunner and everybody knows this. He started shooting, which is his style. After the shooting, one Ayo Jeje was found dead and two others were injured. "They did the same thing in Oye, in Ikere, in Ilawe and in Efon in the past, the PDP are the ones attacking themselves. When a party is in crisis, it is logical that a faction would not want another to outshine it." "ACN knows nothing about this and we would never engage in such act. We are known for peace, even when provoked, we don't take the law into our hands." Calls put across to the telephone of the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr. Victor Babayemi, by our correspondent were not picked and a text message sent to him  was not responded to.

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Awolowo lived a fulfilled life —Ogun ACN, Fraser

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Awolowo lived a fulfilled life —Ogun ACN, Fraser Mar 31st 2013, 23:00 Ogun State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria on Sunday condoled with the Awolowo family over the death of their son, Oluwole. The ACN noted that Oluwole, the Tribune newspapers' publisher, lived a fulfilled life. The party, in a statement by its Publicity Secretary Mr. Sola Lawal, noted that with Oluwole's death, there was now a leadership vacuum in the family. The party added, "His absence will be greatly felt by the management of the Tribune Newspapers in particular and the media industry in general because he carried out his functions as a publisher with all diligence and credible ethical standards, thus sustaining the dream of its founder. "Nigerian Tribune, established in 1949, is a success story and this could not have been possible without the diligent contribution and support of the late Oluwole Awolowo. "We will not fail to also remember and acknowledge his early courageous foray into politics as a member of the youth wing of the then National Council Of Nigeria and Cameroon at 12 and his impactful contributions as councillor in the then Lagos City Council and member of the Lagos State House of Assembly in the Second Republic, representing Apapa. "The chieftaincy titles conferred on him in Ijanikin and Isolo in Lagos, Owo in Ondo and Ijeun in Abeokuta, coupled with being a prince of two royal houses in Remo land in Ogun State are pointers to his worthy and commendable humanitarian services." Meanwhile, a politician, Princess Gloria Adebajo-Fraser, has commiserated with the Awolowo family on the death. Oluwole's death, she said, was "a great blow" to the people of the South West and to the Nigerian media. She said, "Chief Oluwole Awolowo has served his calling with distinction. The Tribune newspaper is and will always be a pacesetter in the Nigerian media."

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New way to lose weight?

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New way to lose weight? Mar 31st 2013, 23:00 Scientists at Harvard may have new hope for anyone who's tried to fight the battle of the bulge. New research, conducted in collaboration with researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, has found that the gut microbes of mice undergo drastic changes following gastric bypass surgery. Transfer of these microbes into sterile mice resulted in rapid weight loss. The study is described in a March 27 paper in Science Translational Medicine. "Simply by colonizing mice with the altered microbial community, the mice were able to maintain a lower body fat, and lose weight — about 20 per cent as much as they would if they underwent surgery," said Peter Turnbaugh, a Bauer Fellow at Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences Center for Systems Biology, and one of two senior authors of the paper. But as striking as those results were, they weren't as dramatic as they might have been. "In some ways we were biasing the results against weight loss," Turnbaugh said, explaining that the mice used in the study hadn't been given a high-fat, high-sugar diet to increase their weight beforehand. "The question is whether we might have seen a stronger effect if they were on a different diet." "Our study suggests that the specific effects of gastric bypass on the microbiota contribute to its ability to cause weight loss and that finding ways to manipulate microbial populations to mimic those effects could become a valuable new tool to address obesity," said Lee Kaplan, director of the Obesity, Metabolism and Nutrition Institute at MGH and the other senior author of the paper." Source: sciencedaily.com

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Sacked PDP official, lawyer disagree over appeal withdrawal

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Sacked PDP official, lawyer disagree over appeal withdrawal Mar 31st 2013, 23:00 Former National Working Committee member of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Bode Mustapha, and the party's lawyers have disagreed over the withdrawal of an appeal challenging Mustapha's removal. The PDP, which a few months ago acted on a judgment of a Federal High Court, removed Mustapha as the National Auditor of the party. Mustapha, in a letter to the PDP lawyer, Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama, said that he (Gadzama) did not have his approval to represent him in a suit at the Court of Appeal, Lagos. The suit, with number No: CA/L/515/212, is an appeal against a judgment of a Federal High Court, Lagos. In the appeal, the PDP, Mustapha and  a former Secretary of the party, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, challenged the removal of the two national officers from the South West  by a judgment of a Federal High Court, Lagos, on January 27, 2011. The appellate court had on June 25, 2012, granted the appellants a stay of execution. In a judgment by Justice H.M.Ogunwumiju and two others, the court said, "We are firmly convinced  that the balance of justice lies in the stay being granted. The res in this case cannot be destroyed by either party, but the liberty  of any of the applicants, if taken by contempt proceedings, cannot be easily restored. "An order of  stay of execution or further execution of the judgment and orders  of Hon. Justice C.E.Archibong of the Federal High Court, Lagos in suit No. FHC/L/CS/1248/2011  delivered on January 27, 2011 is hereby made." But the case took a new turn on March 22, 2013, when Mustpaha opposed his representation by Gadzama. In the letter, Mustapha, said, "I wish to say once again that neither your good self nor your law firm has my instruction to represent me or withdraw the appeal on my behalf." Tukur had, in a letter dated January 17, 2013, instructed Gadzama to "represent the Peoples Democratic Party and accordingly handle all process and proceedings at any state High Court, the Federal High Court,  Court of Appeal and Supreme Court in respect of all actions in the suit No. FHC/AGJ/CS/504/2012; Chief Adebayo Dayo and another V. Prince O. Oyinlola and two others." Gadzama took over from Otunba Kunle Kalejaiye. Gadzama was in the United States when our correspondent contacted him on the telephone to get his reaction to Mustapha's letter. But he referred our correspondent to his junior partner, Mr. Frank Egbo, the lawyer handling the appeal. When our correspondent got in touch with Egbo afterwards, he explained that Mustapha only wrote to ask Gadzama to stop representing him after the notice of withdrawal of the appeal had been filed. Egbo further explained that as at the time PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Bamaga Tukur, instructed them to take over the appeal on January 17, 2013, they were representing the party and its officials, including Mustapha. He said, "We have replied him. He is saying that he did not instruct us to withdraw the appeal. "Now that we are aware of his wish for us not to represent him, we are no longer representing him." Commenting on the development, a former PDP deputy governorship candidate in Ogun State, Mr. Tunde Oladunjoye, said,   "All  over the world, it is a known fact that people have the right to their own choice of lawyers."

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Man pours hot water on 13-year-old housemaid

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Man pours hot water on 13-year-old housemaid Mar 31st 2013, 23:00 A 13-year-old girl, Precious Edu, has accused the brother-in law of her employer of pouring hot water on her. Edu, who said she was denied the opportunity of attending school after she was brought to work with Esther Amunde and her brother-in-law, Papa, in Calabar, Cross River State, said Papa poured the water on her after accusing her of splashing water on him. She said after the hot water left some burns on her neck, shoulder and chest, she was left to wallow in pains for two days until neighbours took her to the hospital for medical attention. Narrating her ordeal to PUNCH Metro on Saturday on her sick bed, Edu, who is currently being treated at the Calabar General Hospital, said she was brought to Ekorinim area of the state from Obudu in the northern part of the state to work as housemaid on the agreement that she would continue her secondary education. But the situation changed as she was allegedly denied schooling by Amunde, who insisted that Edu must not be distracted from taking care of her little son. Edu said, "Sometime in 2012, one woman, Amaman appealed to my mother to release me as a housemaid to her sister, Esther Amunde, residing in Calabar because she needed somebody to stay with her. "When my mother accepted, it was with the understanding that I would continue my schooling. I initially stayed with Amunde's mother in Obudu for three months before Amunde came during Obudu new yam festival in August 2012 to take me to Calabar." Edu said on getting to Calabar, she worked full time as housemaid until September when she expected that she would resume school with other children. She said she reminded Amunde to register her in a school in Ekorinim, but she turned down the request, saying her work was to take care of her son." Edu said, "Amunde refused to register me in school insisting that my duty in her house was to take care of her (Amunde) son. "I was attending Girls Secondary School in my village and I was in JS-1. Even when I was with her mother (Amunde) briefly before coming to Calabar, she allowed me to go to school. But my boss said because of her son, I cannot attend school." Edu alleged that in the course of carrying out her duties, she was maltreated and abused by Papa. She alleged that it was Papa that poured the hot water on her after a slight misunderstanding. She said, "In the morning of March 9, I unplugged a kettle and was turning the water in it into a bucket when Papa said the water splashed on him. He soon brought a smaller bowl, dipped it into the bucket of hot water and poured it on me. "When I told my boss about the incident, she neither reacted nor did anything to the burn. It was after my skin had had started peeling because of the burn that Amunde gave me two tablets of Panadol to use. "However, when I went to fetch water from the borehole five days later, some neighbours saw my peeling skin and screamed. One of them took me to the general hospital." At the hospital, a nurse, who identified herself as Alice, said a child rights activist, Mr. James Ibor, was called and he, in turn, alerted the police. Ibor said, "We have made written requests to the Cross River State Commissioner of Police to effect the arrest of Amunde and Papa to face the law because what they have done amounts to felony." The activist said what they did by taking Udu from her mother to serve as housemaid was human trafficking. He said Udu would thereafter be taken to an orphanage where she would eventually be taken back to her parents after the wound had healed. Efforts to get Amunde and Papa to speak on the issue proved abortive. When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. John Umoh, said he was yet to be briefed of the incident.

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Culture, security top agenda as Lagos holds regatta

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Culture, security top agenda as Lagos holds regatta Mar 31st 2013, 23:00 There was a spectacular display of culture, tradition and aquatic splendour as Lagos State held its Regatta on Sunday. The boat sporting event, which was a part of the state's Heritage Week, was government's way of drawing the attention of visitors and investors to the state's waterways to maximise usage. The occasion was also used to draw the attention of the residents to security issue and to urge them to be part of the efforts to prevent terror in the state. It was learnt that many of the residents had arrived the Civic Centre, venue of the celebration, very early. Large boats decorated with colourful clothing adorned the water surface. The men in the boats later danced and rowed to show agility and their prowess in handling water transport. Other young men also swam to show their mastery of the sea. Governor Babatunde Fashola, however, urged them and other residents to be vigilant and report activities of anyone who threatens the peace in the state. The governor, who saluted the residents in the spirit of Easter, also called for tolerance and peaceful co-existence among people who has chosen the state as their home. He said," Let me stress that our state is home to all of Africans. Its capacity to be home to all is because of our resolve to respect cultural differences, religious differences and the laws of the land. "Be accommodating and vigilant to detect who threaten our peace or abuse our hospitality. Let us use this season to reach out deep in the spirit of restraint to enjoy this season offers". He said the regatta was a decision of the government to expand, as well as showcase, the cultural heritage of the state. He said, "For us here in Lagos, it is not just a fun but a display of tradition of our ancestors, how they survived on the waterways. It means a lot to us, our drainage system, which is why we are intolerant of people who degrade it and dump refuse in it." "Anyone who threatens it, threatens our means of transport and waterways and we would not allow that. It is also our source of seafood as well". Earlier the Regatta Planning Committee Chairman, Mr. Olusegun Jawando, said the event offered the opportunity for residents and tourists to enjoy the beauty of the lagoon in a safe and exciting atmosphere. He said, "The Lagos Regatta is a private sector initiative supported by the state government as a part of the Black Heritage Week event. It is born out of the desire of the government to draw attention to the state's waterways which is one of its biggest assets."

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