From Living In Bondage To Lionheart: Nollywood's Thorny Path To Its Digital Future

Living in Bondage: Breaking Free, produced by Charles Okpaleke and directed by Ramsey Noah in his directorial debut is a Sequel to the 1992 release.

BY EDWIN OKOLO

In January 2019, American media giant, Netflix, made a splash by premiering Genevieve Nnaji’s directorial debut, Lionheart, exclusively on its streaming service. In a deal brokered by Funa Maduka, months before, at the Toronto International Film Festival, Ms. Nnaji became the first Nigerian filmmaker to debut their project to an international audience in this way, paving the way for the flurry of Nigerian films that would follow in the coming months and closing the circle of digital distribution for online content that began exactly 10 years before with a little show about sexual awareness. To understand how Nigerian media made the leap from video clubs and viewing centers to a winner-takes-all streaming war, we need to go down a tunnel of tax havens, gambling banks and the rise of social currency.

The Internet knocks but once

The first media wave began in 1992 with Living In Bondage (which 27 years later has been revived with a second installment). There are many accounts of how the film was made, but what was not in contention was how successful it became. Funded almost entirely by businessmen turned financiers, the first iteration of Nollywood was almost entirely profit-driven and rode the direct-to-video wave for most of the 90s churning out the bulk of content that today has a second life as Tumblr memes and the subversive work of the sisters behind Instagram account Nolly.Babes. The mass of films from that era eventually led to the rise of the first generation of Nollywood A-listers, whose ascension led to controversies like the G8 ban of 2004, and set in motion the eventual decline of the O.G Nollywood marketer and the rise of what we refer to today as ‘New Nollywood.’ That decline was marked by a decided shift in the viewing habits of Nigerians.

There are many reasons for this decline. The first generation of Nigerians raised on some form of cable television came into adolescence hungry for global content. Piracy soared in response to their demand, competing with and eventually decimating Nollywood pulp cinema.

A presidential order by Olusegun Obasanjo in 2001 led to the introduction of Global Systems for Mobile (GSM) Telecommunication networks into Nigeria. New licenses and impressive waivers on operational taxes drew major South African players MTN to invest in the Nigerian markets and usher in privatised, profit-focused mobile telephony. By 2005, MTN, Glo and Econet had introduced mobile internet services to the media market. A direct consequence of this was that it became significantly easier for young people to not only curate the content that they consumed but to also seek out niche content that was either unavailable because it was currently out of syndication or unavailable because terrestrial television stations could not afford to license them. Hunched over desktop screens and cheap Chinese disc players, Nigerians gorged themselves on content.

The second major catalyst was the Blackberry Internet Service (BIS). A unique feature of the Blackberry Service Suite, created specifically as a business tool for Blackberry, a major mobile player in the 2000’s; the BIS was a closed Internet Service Provider network that clients could access for a certain fee and it offered a heavily discounted alternative to the exorbitant data charges of the mobile networks offering similar services at the time. While created primarily for businesses, the BIS network’s significantly cheaper data services encouraged early experimentation with streaming and downloading of digital content for entertainment. Websites like NotJustOk and Jaguda were the first to capitalize on this new craving for digital media created by Nigerians for Nigerian consumption. Early P2P sharing platforms like Limewire were all the rage.

 

The Academy Awards disqualified Lionheart in its foreign language film category.

The third and most influential catalyst was social media. Before the advent of Facebook in 2004 and Twitter in 2006, it was incredibly difficult to build local communities around media interests. Fandoms were rare in Nigeria, and it was difficult and expensive to organize or participate in events that celebrated mutual interest in any kind of activity. Yahoo Groups and Yahoo 360 had offered rudimentary versions of fan-based platforms but they had been targeted primarily to Western audiences. Facebook groups, however, were easier to navigate and provided a neat and impersonal solution that simply allowed fans of a TV show or musician to ‘opt-in’ to groups and pages that had relevant information about these interests and allowed fans to find each other virtually. By 2010, it wasn’t uncommon to find fan-managed celebrity Facebook groups and pages with 100,000 fans. Twitter would accelerate the process through live-tweeting, real-time reviews and analysis of shows as they aired. Combined with the ‘opt-in’ feature of Twitter’s follow model, fans were incentivised by social currency to offer their opinions on digital content and media companies were more likely to create content that would trigger that kind of engagement.

Social media, in combination with cheaper mobile internet, meant there was a steady stream of conversation happening at any point in time in already segmented audience groups. All that was left was to create media content that specifically catered to the needs of these groups and a pioneer to get things started.

Media moves online
That pioneer turned out to be MTV. The product was MTV Shuga, a YA-oriented television show that drew from the true-grit model of Western tween television shows revolving specifically on how a group of teens and young adults dealt with the fallout of either living with or interacting with people with HIV. The hysteria around HIV was at its peak in 2009 and MTV Shuga was one of the first shows that did an excellent job of destigmatising the condition. The show also launched the careers of Lupita N’yongo and Nick Mutuma. Released originally only to Kenyan audiences, the enduring buzz around the show led to an online release on YouTube and its second season in 2012. The concurrent release of the show online opened MTV Shuga to an otherwise ignored demographic and most likely inspired the showrunners to move the show West to Lagos for a follow-up season. It seems too much of a coincidence that Ndani TV, Guaranty Trust Bank’s innovative media offshoot, was launched in the same year.

MTV Shuga Naija was a runaway success. Like it had with Lupita, the show launched the careers of Dorcas Shola Fapson and Timini Egbuson, proving unequivocally that there was an audience for content accessible only by streaming. There was an audience, primed for conversations, looking for content to engage with.

Until that point, Tajudeen Adepetun of Consolidated Media Associates and AlphaVision Productions had been the only showrunner to find a sweet spot between accessible storytelling and passable execution. He had conquered television with shows like Everyday People & Treasures, and engineered Nigeria’s enduring obsession with Mexican telenovelas but seemed unwilling to expand into digital. Even his archive of beloved television soaps remained in syndication on terrestrial television. It would take the intervention of Nigeria’s banks to change things.

Guaranty Trust Bank was the first to launch a digital media imprint. Ndani TV, its imprint, was launched early 2012 evolving from a quarterly newsletter of the same name. In its primary role as a content marketing platform for the bank, the platform was helmed by Lola Odedina and Jade Osiberu with Mohammed Attah as the channel’s first showrunner. Without any prior experience in creating content specifically for a digital platform, Ndani experimented with interview style shows, before striking gold with scripted web shows. Gidi Up, their first web show, was a huge gamble.

The studio invested heavily in the show’s production values and hired relatively unknown actors as the show’s six leads. Even the choice to have a multi-lead cast and flesh out multiple storylines was a gamble itself. But the storytelling and Osiberu’s understanding of youth culture helped transform their ambitious ideas into a cult-making season of entertainment. Overt with their branding and ruthless with their advertising, Ndani became synonymous with new media; following the success of Gidi Up with tailored shows like the Youtube juggernaut Skinny Girl In Transit and Rumour Has It.

United Bank for Africa, (now defunct) Diamond Bank, and Access Bank launched RED TV and Accelerate TV to carve their own niches on YouTube and tap into the goodwill that Ndani extended to GTB. Emboldened by the success of Ndani’s programming, both platforms began to experiment with finding their own formats. High profile partnerships with EbonyLife’s Temi Abudu and director Kemi Adetiba led to Accelerate TV’s scripted reality TV show On The Real and their wildly successful interview series King Women. RED TV experimented with meta-comedy, hiring comedian Koye Kekere-Ekun to expand his social media shtick into a detective series called Inspector K.

Ndani has remained the front runner in the race to dominate YouTube despite tragedies like the loss of all its footage for a highly anticipated third season of Gidi Up, and scandals like its reactive decision to scrub the Ndani channel of its 2019 show Oga Pastor mid-season to avoid getting entangled in a co-incidental religious scandal involving a high-profile pastor. But it has also lost significant ground to shows like Accelerate TV’s The Shade Corner (which took three years and two seasons to find its level) and RED TV’s surprise hit The Men’s Corner.

The only real contender for the Big Three on YouTube at this time is LowlaDee productions, an independent production company run by Dolapo ‘Lowladee’ Adeleke. Adeleke’s production company made its name with This Is It, a crowd-pleasing rom-com manufactured to leverage the combined West African and East African digital biomes.

A free for all

The big three (Accelerate, Ndani and RED) got a few years’ head start before the technology evolved enough to shed much of the prohibitive costs that had kept independent players from entering the market. Now that those barriers are gone, digital media content is well and truly anyone’s game.

Long-time veteran Jason Njoku, in partnership with his wife and business partner Mary Remmy Njoku, were early adopters of streaming apps whose primarily sell is exclusive, locally created content. Her shows Husbands of Lagos and Festac Town helped streaming platform IrokoTV pivot away from its archive of vintage Nollywood content and build a contemporary fanbase.

The Njokus have been so successful at creating digital content and courting digital audiences that Mary Remmy was able to broker a major takeover deal with French media giant Canal+. The sale speaks to the current state of Nigeria’s digital media and the growth that has occurred in the last decade. Mrs. Njoku’s sale is phenomenal because Rok Studios is less than 5 years old and until its sale was run independent of external funding.

There is, of course, Linda Ikeji’s attempt to expand her media empire beyond blogging with her Linda Ikeji TV streaming service that had early viral shows like King Tonto and Oyinbo Wives of Nollywood. SceneOneTV (owned by Funke ‘Jenifa’ Akindele) is a niche but self-perpetuating vehicle for Akindele’s personal projects that include the now-labored Jenifa’s Diary and a spinoff show, Aiyetoro Town. Even media mogul Mo Abudu got in on the action with EbonyLife ON (which was sold to audiences by exclusively streaming its glossy legal drama ‘Castle and Castle’ on the platform). Streaming is such a competitive market that even DSTV, feeling the burn of digital media, created ShowMax, its own answer to the streaming wars and the primary distribution vehicle, for its big-ticket show, the Big Brother Naija franchise.

An inevitable consequence of the local audiences finally paying top money for their entertainment is that they now have demands. After nearly 8 years of majorly phenomenal press, Ndani suddenly found itself in a maelstrom of bad press. Agitations have long simmered about the firm’s alleged disinterest in the fans’ concerns, as encapsulated by their refusal to release an official statement on Gidi Up, and consequently the decision to pull its preacher thriller, Oga Pastor, off-air mid-season and replace it with Phases, a show shot and released so hastily its working title was changed after the first episode had aired. Fans have openly promised to boycott and are voting with their clicks and money.

How will the next decade of Nigerian film and television media evolve?

It is hard to predict. Nigerian innovators like Joel Benson are already experimenting with 3D imaging and augmented reality in the same market, ‘Asaba Nollywood’ still coughs up enough pulp cinema to keep the poorest Nigerians entertained. However, it is more difficult to predict if the big three will stay fascinated with their content marketing platforms enough to finance them for another decade without a clear path to independence and profitability. Cheaper tools mean Nigerians are directing and attempting ambitious projects at much younger ages than we’ve ever seen; figuring out the logistics of distribution and revenue channels as they go along.

In a nutshell, while the industry has never been this potent, it remains to be seen if this potency will lead to an expansion or an implosion.

Edwin Okolo is a journalist, fashion critic, and artisanal crocheter. He has written for the New York Times, Native Magazine, African Arguments, and Sable Lit. He is the editor-in-chief at YNaija.com

Terrorism: MASSOB Tells Igbo To Vacate Borno, Others

BY CHUKWUDI AKASIKE

Worried about the killings of Christians by members of the Boko Haram sect and other terrorist groups in the North, the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra has called on the Igbo in the region to return home.

MASSOB stated that it was necessary for the Igbo to heed the call to return to the South-East in order to avoid being killed by terrorist groups who had recently made Christians their targets.

The National Director of Information of the pro-Biafran group, Sunday Okereafor, who made this call while speaking with The PUNCH on Sunday, explained that refusal to heed MASSOB’s advice on the need to return home could be dangerous.

He stated, “We have told the Igbo in the North to come back home. Uwazurike sent a lot of vehicles to the North two years ago to bring the Igbo people there back home, but they refused to come back home.

“Over 100 vehicles were moved to Kaduna and other states in the North, where you have Fulani people; Borno, Kano, Kaduna and Plateau states. But most of our brothers there are saying no, they are not coming back and that nothing will happen to them.

“We are again calling on our brothers to leave the North and come back to the South-East. But if they say no, ISIS, Boko Haram and herdsmen will kill them. They should come back home to remain alive with their children. We are tired of these killings and we want our people to come back home.”

He added that MASSOB would not stand and watch Igbo people being killed by terrorists in the North, adding that the South-East was economically viable for Igbo people and others to do business.

Okereafor, however, noted that MASSOB was not afraid of the terrorists should they decide to come to the South-East.

He said, “On the killings of Christians in the North by ISIS, ISWAP and Boko Haram, we are prepared for the terrorists. MASSOB is saying that we are prepared to defend our land.

“We cannot watch while they push us to the wall, kill us and kill our children. We have economic opportunities in the South-East; we have enough food here.”

CopyrightPUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.

The Giant Prison of Africa

J. Ezike

BY J. EZIKE

It was a blood-filled season in 2019. Amidst the background scenes of ritual jihads in the defunct establishment that flaunts itself as Nigeria, the world sat, as usual, with bowls of popcorn and bottles of champagne watching and reveling in dark lust. And I wondered again at the hypocrisy of the United Nations and its acclaimed charter that represents the universal expression of freedom and swears to uphold an integrated humanity. For many months, the indignation welled up in me and I tried to process my anger into words of literature and poetic bullets aimed at the conspiracy to keep the black continent in perpetual backwardness. Whenever I am forced within to arm my right hand with a pen and shoot polemics, those who are navigating the slave ship in Africa from Europe and North America are quick to tag me as racist. But then I wondered; what can be more racist than a white man enslaving millions of black men through proxy and keeps them bound in the chains of poverty and hopelessness? What can be more racist than a white man who denies Africans the fundamental human rights he accords to Europeans by ensuring that those elected as “presidential slaves” exact the will of the feudal lords? It is almost as if there is a fetish dream in the consciousness of Europe to forestall the progress of Africa and deny Africans their rightful place. I am just trying to think loud and wide. I am trying to study this racial behavior that predates my conception in April 19/20, 1987. I am trying to make sense of this white man’s psyche that gives him the mental license to think of the black man as an inferior being. If this is not racism, if this is not hate personified then, we must begin to find an explanation to this phenomenon.

There is nothing uniquely unjust in the Nigerian tyranny that has its roots buried deep in earth’s canal. The Fulani actors in Asorock who are only enforcing the colonial impulse of Britain, and exercising the continual dehumanization of the tribal constituents are not intelligent to know that in their desperate attempt to strangle the Igbo man, the Yoruba man and the rest of the 250 ethnic nationalities, he inadvertently brings the knell to his own funeral. The mentality of “Born-to-rule and One-Nigeria,” aspires to the feudalistic sermons of Britain that promotes the destruction of black minds. And when the mind is shackled the body becomes a prisoner. And this is why 200 million “Nigerians” can conveniently allow themselves to be bundled in a messy pile and bolted into false identities and citizenship. This is why they relax themselves with the fate installed upon them by the jailer who acquired the slavehouse from unilever for 865,000 British pounds in 1899 and lumped hundreds of ethnic nationalities into this giant prison of Africa. This is why a “proud slave” will confidently pronounce himself or herself as a “Nigerian” on world stage, unabashed. This is why the ignorance of self and the slavery of mind are visceral. This is why the inhabitants of this giant prison are still grappling with the myth of independence and punished for their “inability to reason” and have allowed their minds to be captured and kept confined by the jailer in Europe. And their crime is attributed to their faulty thought process, their grave mindset that makes their brains handicap.

It was a blood-filled season in 2019. Amidst the background scenes of ritual jihads in the defunct establishment that flaunts itself as Nigeria, the world sat, as usual, with bowls of popcorn and bottles of champagne watching and reveling in dark lust. And I wondered again at the hypocrisy of the United Nations and its acclaimed charter that represents the universal expression of freedom and swears to uphold an integrated humanity. For many months, the indignation welled up in me and I tried to process my anger into words of literature and poetic bullets aimed at the conspiracy to keep the black continent in perpetual backwardness. Whenever I am forced within to arm my right hand with a pen and shoot polemics, those who are navigating the slave ship in Africa from Europe and North America are quick to tag me as racist. But then I wondered; what can be more racist than a white man enslaving millions of black men through proxy and keeps them bound in the chains of poverty and hopelessness? What can be more racist than a white man who denies Africans the fundamental human rights he accords to Europeans by ensuring that those elected as “presidential slaves” exact the will of the feudal lords? It is almost as if there is a fetish dream in the consciousness of Europe to forestall the progress of Africa and deny Africans their rightful place. I am just trying to think loud and wide. I am trying to study this racial behavior that predates my conception in April 19/20, 1987. I am trying to make sense of this white man’s psyche that gives him the mental license to think of the black man as an inferior being. If this is not racism, if this is not hate personified then, we must begin to find an explanation to this phenomenon.

There is nothing uniquely unjust in the Nigerian tyranny that has its roots buried deep in earth’s canal. The Fulani actors in Asorock who are only enforcing the colonial impulse of Britain, and exercising the continual dehumanization of the tribal constituents are not intelligent to know that in their desperate attempt to strangle the Igbo man, the Yoruba man and the rest of the 250 ethnic nationalities, he inadvertently brings the knell to his own funeral. The mentality of “Born-to-rule and One-Nigeria,” aspires to the feudalistic sermons of Britain that promotes the destruction of black minds. And when the mind is shackled the body becomes a prisoner. And this is why 200 million “Nigerians” can conveniently allow themselves to be bundled in a messy pile and bolted into false identities and citizenship. This is why they relax themselves with the fate installed upon them by the jailer who acquired the slavehouse from unilever for 865,000 British pounds in 1899 and lumped hundreds of ethnic nationalities into this giant prison of Africa. This is why a “proud slave” will confidently pronounce himself or herself as a “Nigerian” on world stage, unabashed. This is why the ignorance of self and the slavery of mind are visceral. This is why the inhabitants of this giant prison are still grappling with the myth of independence and punished for their “inability to reason” and have allowed their minds to be captured and kept confined by the jailer in Europe. And their crime is attributed to their faulty thought process, their grave mindset that makes their brains handicap.


I am angry. I am so angry not at the jailer who is simply exercising the aim of survival. Rather, I am angry at the people, I mean the so-called Nigerians who have made themselves the generational stepping stone for European bliss. And have lost the stimulus to respond to their woes through the dictates of their sixth sense. It is this sixth sense that opens their eyes to see beyond the smiling façade of the British feudal barons who would rather prefer that their prisoners shove coal in hell and die away like mosquitoes struck by the hammer of self-genocide than to let go of their investment of 1899. And I have asked this question so many times. Why is it that “Nigerians” have chosen to implore this fate upon themselves? There is a conspicuous absence of resistance, especially by the Yoruba, against the Fulani actors and their primitive politics. Why is it hard to understand that when Northern Nigeria and its caliphate is strangled out of power, the Middle-belt, the South-West and the South-East will extricate themselves from the British prison and chart a new course and realign their sense of Nationhood with the preordained boundaries, cultures and identities prior to colonial pestilence. I think back to the years of 1899-1914 through the eye of history and begin to wonder that if none of the ethnic nationalities gave their unanimous consent to the jailers in Europe then how did we become “Nigerians”? If nations are built on the basis of common language, identical value systems and through the political endorsement of a community of people, then, who on earth gave Britain the audacity to lump us in a prison and purchase our lands for 865,000 pounds and call us by the derogatory name “NiggerAreans” and usurp our economic and political autonomy? Who, I say?

In Nigeria, all we have known is blood and violence. Suffering and Smiling is the lyrics of our national anthem. I look at Nigerians in this mire, in this circus of death and wonder what happened to their sense of anger. I have seen youths in Ohaneze who sing praises to Asorock in order to break bread with thieves. I know ladies in Benin who spread their pillars apart and auction their universal center for peanuts that will fetch them sanitary pads. I know boys in Warri who turned their hard fate into adventures of the grave-hearted and found new love for the thirst of urine to beat the ever-brutish sun of the Sahara. I know families in Onitsha who risked their lineage on the Mediterranean Sea to witness the light of Europe and re-baptize themselves as slaves of the jailers. I have seen masses in Bayelsa and Rivers who know nothing about the signatures of a progressive society and lack experiential knowledge of how the welfare of citizens in sensible worlds are made a priority but can only imagine it through Hollywood pictures. I have felt the palpable agonies of the common man and woman who have fried their tears in the sun of Lagos to feed their starving children. I have seen Enugu and Ebonyi victims victimized again and again by uniformed hounds and killed for sport. I have seen desperate Yorubas who chant “One-Nigeria” but yet in the deepest place of their hearts are secretly nursing the ambition of escaping the brutal hardship and find sanity in a sane society. And all of these people seem to share one thing in common: they all have been naked before the elements of tyranny but do not want to admit the source of their woes and the way out.

In Canada, where I am temporarily domiciled, I have met Yorubas especially in Quebec who admitted that to be a Nigerian is to be a prisoner in one’s own country. These people were once the die-hard promoters of the caliphate-imposed ideology of “One-Nigeria” but suddenly underwent a revival after marveling at the New World’s sense of progressive politics. These people were once chartered accountants, doctors, engineers, pastors etcetera… but are now bent on menial jobs in a desperate attempt to achieve the far-fetched experience of being treated first as humans. They are part of the millions of human talents drained away from their ancestral lands and are forced by economic and political circumstances to nest their dreams in an alien refuge.

It must be said that this giant prison will consume us all if the Yoruba leadership do not subscribe to the “prison break” currently being championed by conscious groups and opinion leaders of IPOB, LNC, OPC, MASSOB. Before we can escape, before we can break away, those of us on the receiving end of the Fulani brutality must push aside sentiments and emotions and wield the sword of survival. I use the word – “sword” deliberately because whether we’ve realized it or not, the Fulani North and its caliphate is on a southward sweep and curse be upon the Yoruba land if a second civil war is born in 2020 as a result of their greed that seats on logic and the urgency of self-preservation. And I have always said that if Tinubu decides to repeat the grave mistake of Awolowo, his descendants will disown his name. This piece will bear me witness in the many years to come.

None of us will escape unscathed when the rain starts to fall because the Fulani knows nothing but divide and conquer. As the call for regional referendum for Biafra, Oduduwa and Middle-Belt is being strategically delayed by Britain – the jailer in Europe, the Christians who are the prisoners in Nigeria continue to fall to the swords of the Fulani whose only import and verifiable talent is terrorism. And whose trade name floats as Miyetti Allah, Fulani Herdsmen, Boko Haram, Maitatsine, Yatatsine and ISWAP. And it is pertinent to state here that in the course of this Dan Fodio-inspired conquest, the Middle-Belt region will be the First Prison House to burn and become the Forgotten Memory. General Theophilus Danjuma will do himself and his people a great favor to break his silence and tell the world what he knows about Asorock. His long-lived political correctness isn’t helping anybody. Those who want to speak should speak or forever remain cowards!

We do not want ceremonial speakers or over-fed billionaires to contaminate our consciousness with their servile diplomacy and loyalty to the Butchers of Men. We mean business. This is a case of life and death. And posterity is at stake. 2019 brought our knees lower to the ground before the North. It gave us reasons to mourn and reasons to question the union on the basis of fact and existence. And the fact is that Nigeria is defunct and the existential truth is that we are prisoners of Britain and the Fulani North. We spurn the ministry of freedom marketed by others at our own detriment. We reject our liberty to the utmost pleasure of the jailer in Europe. We stand to the national anthem for the renewal of our death sentence. And the meek shall become the sheep on the altar of Fulani slaughter.

“Enough is enough” should be our anthem as we walk into 2020. We were battered and stomped out of our farmlands. Our women were raped in the greens of the forests. Bodies beheaded as tribute to the Sokoto Caliphate. Our lands inked with the bloods of our people. Enough is indeed enough. If we do not break away from this prison, this prison will consume thousands of us in 2020. The South and the Middle-Belt have the power to banish the Fulani into memory, to reduce them to a tiny colony. We have all it takes to humble these blood-suckers and commit their pride to the grave. We have what it takes to dispossess them of the steering wheel and navigate the ship of slavery to the House of Referendum. This is not the chess of oil and power. And I want to believe we have outgrown that argument. For when it comes to oil, Biafra is committed towards the arrangement that will see it fit that the oil in our land is funneled to the South-West, the Middle-Belt and the Caliphate North. Those who decide to reject this peaceful option and insist on the continuity of this prison will ultimately unleash a Pandora box of regional conflagration.

May the New Year 2020, bring common sense and strategic unity in the Southern Protectorate as we pursue the good intention of releasing all the ethnic nationalities out of the Giant Prison of Africa.

SOURCE: OPINION NIGERIA

2023 Presidency And The Search For The Igbo Leader

BY DONS EZE/NATIONAL CONCORD 

At the risk of being labelled ethnic jingoists, we have been searching for the leader of the over sixty million Igbo living in this entrapment called Nigeria, and the several million others scattered in all the continents across the globe. This has become necessary in view of the present state of the Igbo, not only in Nigeria, but worldwide.

In our search, we see that the Igbo are like sheep without a shepherd. They are like a ship without an anchor, rudderless. The Igbo no longer have any say in Nigeria. They grumble about marginalization, and about not getting their fair share in the scheme of things.

For the Igbo politicians, they do not seem to have a bearing. They are chattels, articles of trade, being tossed about. Some of them had even regretted ever standing with the Igbo in the past, which they said, had cost them fortunes. For that, they swore never to be with the Igbo again. With eyes on 2023, they decided to turn their backs on the people. But they now seem to have met their Waterloo!

In the meantime, it is either that Femi Fani Kayode, a Yoruba man, speaks for the Igbo, or that Nnamdi Kanu in faraway London, continues to be a lone voice crying in the wilderness. Every other person is dumb, afraid to speak.

We were told that the reason why the Igbo is in such a hopeless situation is because they are republican. “The Igbo have no king”, “Igbo enwe eze”. Every Igbo man is a king in his own right. Nobody is subservient to the other. The people will tell you: “Onye k’ibu?”,” Who are you?” “Esi be gi eje b’onye?”, “Does your house lead to anybody’s home?”

As far as we know, “Igbo were eze”, “Igbo have king”. But the Igbo king is not ready-made. He is not divinely ordained, thrust from the sky or propped by the spirit. The Igbo king is also not David, who was fetched from the field where he was tending his father’s sheep, and made a king.

The Igbo king is work in progress. It is earned. It is worked for. Before you become an Igbo king, or an Igbo leader, you must work for it. You must make sacrifices. You cannot stay in the comfort of your room and become an Igbo king, or Igbo leader. Before you eat an omelet, you must break an egg.

Professor Cyril Onwumechili equates Igbo kingship to “scientific culture”, which recognizes “no kings and chiefs with divine knowledge”. In science as in Igbo, he says, “promotion is by achievement”. Since everybody has the right to attend and express his views in a scientific seminar, in Igbo village assembly, everybody has the freedom to express his views, and decisions arrived at by consensus.

Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe became the Igbo leader even before a reception organized for him and his two other colleagues, Dr, Simeon Onwu and Dr. Akanu Ibiam, as first Igbo university graduates, by the Igbo Union in Lagos in 1934. Mr. Dennis Osadebay who was the first Igbo Union President, did not become the Igbo leader. It was Azikiwe, using his incisive pen and his chain of newspapers, with the West African Pilot as the flagship, that worked himself into the Igbo heart.

He took on the colonialists headlong and also championed the Igbo cause. This automatically made himself the Igbo leader. Azikiwe became the Igbo leader before becoming the leader of NCNC, and he took the Igbo along with him, to that political party.

When Azikiwe left to become the Governor General of Nigeria, he handed the baton over to Dr. Michael Okpara. Okpara did not fold his arms. He led the NCNC to form an alliance with a faction of the Action Group loyal to Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and the Aminu Kano led Northern Elements Peoples Union (NEPU), to form the United Progressives Grand Alliance (UPGA), which he used to consolidate the position of the Igbo in Nigeria. The Igbo then saw Okpara as their leader.

The circumstances of the 1966-1967 crisis forced on Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu to carry the Igbo load. He carried it with every sense of responsibility. Ojukwu sacrificed everything to ensure that Igbo were not wiped out from the surface of the earth. This qualified him to become the Igbo leader.

When Dr. Alex Ekwueme was the Vice President of Nigeria, he was not particularly the toast of the Igbo. But when he went to the Constitutional Conference during the Abacha regime, he began to shine like a million star. It was to Ekwueme’s credit that we now have the present six geopolitical zonal arrangement. He followed it up by leading a group of progressive Nigerians, known as the G.20, which frontally confronted Abacha, and asked him to relinquish political power.

When Abacha died, the G.20 metamorphosed to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), with Ekwueme as their leader, and almost the entire Igbo followed him to the PDP. Even when the PDP denied Ekwueme a Presidential ticket, the Igbo still stuck with the party.

When Odumegwu Ojukwu pitched tent with the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), he succeeded in snatching Anambra and Imo states from the PDP, and maintained a sizeable presence in many other states. APGA became the toast and the hope of the Igbo. But that hope was dashed as soon as Ojukwu departed.

Now, as we journey towards 2023, we begin to search who will lead the Igbo to the Promised Land? We look around, but do not see any. The Igbo are like orphans, no leader. Nobody wants to make sacrifices.

The Igbo have no political base. They are partyless. They are like tenants in the PDP, they have crashed APGA, and they are far away from the APC. Unless there is divine intervention, we do not see any future for the Igbo in 2023.

SOURCE: NATIONAL CONCORD

Igbo Agenda: We Need To Re-Strategize – Obiorah Okonkwo

Obiorah Okonkwo

BY VINCENT UJUMADU

A Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Dr Obiorah Okonkwo warned weekend that the only way for the Igbo to remain relevant in the Nigeria project was for her people to re-strategize on how to achieve their desired goals under the circumstances they found themselves. Delivering a paper titled, ‘Ndigbo in contemporary Nigeria: Social, Cultural, Political and Economic Reflections’ at the 2019 Umunri Colloquium at Enugwu Ukwu in Njikoka local government area of Anambra State, Okonkwo, who is aspiring to govern Anambra State in 2022, observed that individual achievements of Igbo people could not be equated to the collective achievements of the Igbo nation.

According to him, despite the mansions and individual successes being recorded by the Igbo in all parts of the country, the allegation of marginalization against Igbo had continued because the people were not getting equitable share from the nation’s commonwealth.

He said: “We need to constantly interrogate ourselves in order for us to build a future that will work for the Igbo people. I believe that the sort of individualism that has replaced communalism in Igbo land has left us at the mercy of development. This individualism has left us thinking more about the self than our communities.

“Today we see a new wave of Igbo entrepreneurship, which is a growth from what the Igbo had been known for, namely innovation, ingenuity and risk-taking, which are all core requirements for success in business.

“What has happened is that we have transformed from mere trading in goods to developing and managing big businesses across various sectors. Despite all that, the Igbo people still lament.

“The Igbo must, therefore, quit lamenting and begin to see the opportunities we have missed as new opportunities for growth. If the Igbo political landscape must be reworked, the Igbo must ensure that their businesses lead.

“When we achieve that, then we can use it to swing political power to our advantage. It is simply about using economic power to negotiate political power to your favour, even if you are not the one sitting in the office.

“The central message is that we have to go back to our old values, which is what made us who we are. And we have to look into our leadership selection process. I am advocating selection plus election.

“The system of democracy of all comers has not helped us to produce great leaders who are groomed and who are prepared for the service of the people.

“So, until we get that right, we will continue to have wrong representation in this country and we will continue to lose our grip on the affairs of the nation.

SOURCE: VANGUARD

Igbo Group Bans Chieftaincy Titles In Germany

Ndigbo Germany. Image: Facebook

Ndi-Igbo Germany (N.I.G.), the apex body of all Igbo unions in Germany has placed a ban on the conferment of traditional Igbo titles on its members of the group in Germany.

This is contained in a statement jointly signed by Engr. Oge Ozofor and Mazi Tony Dominic, the coordinator and the general secretary of the group respectively.

The statement which described the practice as an aberration reads: “As custodians of our culture in foreign land, N.I.G from inception has strived to maintain the purity and the essence of our culture. To this end, we have successfully banned all forms of falsification, commercialization or impersonation of Igbo traditional titles of Ozo, Nze, Eze, Onowu or such similar titles here in Germany.

“The conferment of such titles is the prerogative of specific Igbo communities/kingdoms in Igbo land. Such conferment is a celebration and recognition of consistent contributions of positive influence and development made to the specific community or the larger society by the recipient. Chieftaincy or title taking is a personal issue which is based and hinged on particular autonomous communities who could, after the title-taking, address the recipient as Chief, Eze, Ogbuefi, etc of that community.

“In clear text, we want to bring to the notice of the public, all the embassies of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the state governments of all the South-East states, their Ministries of Culture and Chieftaincy Affairs, their State Council of Chiefs and Traditional Rulers that any person, persons parading himself/herself as Ozo, Nze, Ogbuefi, Onowu (XY name) OF GERMANY or such similar tittles are nothing but imposters and impersonators and should be treated as such.

“Ndi-Igbo Germany (N.I.G.) the only authentic apex body of all Igbo unions in Germany does not confer and does not recognize such traditional titles. They are non-existent in Germany.

“Ndi-Igbo Germany is calling on all Ndi-Igbo, both home and abroad to join hands with us and halt this cultural aberration which erodes, cheapens and bastardizes our value system of hard work, honesty, benefits and reward system. We call on all Igbo diaspora groups in the world to join us and take similar stand.’

SOURCE: SUN NEWS ONLINE

INTERVIEW: Kate Omenugha: I Used To Read In Toilet

Anambra State Commissioner for Education Prof. Kate Omenugha

Prof Kate Omenugha is the Commissioner for Education, Anambra State. A self-confessed feminist, committed to the cause of the marginalised in society, she is also a bibliophile who regaleS you with books read as a schoolgirl. The former Head, Department of Mass Communication, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, spoke to HENRY AKUBUIRO in the state capital, Awka, on a myriad of issues, including her attempt at encouraging reading culture among students, the giant strides she has made on education and what informed her feminist persuasion. 

A photo went viral last year of you dressed in a student’s uniform to office. What statement were you trying to make?
(laughs) I had to identify with the students who went to the Silicon Valley and won World Technovation Challenge gold medal. I told them, since they did us proud, I was going to wear their uniform. So I dressed like that to the Anambra State Government Exco meeting to identify with my students. I could be the senior prefect of Regina Pacis Model Secondary School, Onitsha. Sometime this year, St. John’s Science and Technical College, Alor, went to Tunisia and won bronze at the Festival of Engineering, Science and Technology (I-FEST). In 2016, Anambra schools performed well in competitions in Singapore and Indonesia. To me, it was an indication that the global competitiveness promised by Governor to umu akwukwo (students of) Anambra is coming to pass. We are trying to raise children who are confident, who can face the world.

Much is being said of dwindling reading culture in Nigeria. Are you not worried about this development?

What we have done in Anambra is to use the idea of role modelling. When Prof. Chukwuemeka Ike celebrated his 50th anniversary as a writer, we used that to showcase our students; show them what they can be if they work hard. We presented that opportunity for them to write stuffs, which we published as Echoes of Tomorrow. I got students from village schools, trained and made them read his citation; they also dramatised it.

Again, when the wife of the state governor wrote the biography of her husband, Willie: An Intimate Encounter, we used that, once more, to engage the students. The governor was there, together with his wife. Students turned the book into poetry, story and drama. We did recitation from the book, in partnership with Read Association of Nigeria.

Now, in our schools, every Tuesday, we have what call an uninterrupted, sustained silent reading. At a particular time of the day, everywhere will be shut down; everybody must hold a book to read for 20-30 minutes, including the gateman. When we started that project, we saw that many of our students were reading at frustration level.

What do you mean by that?

They can’t read as expected they would read. We call it frustration level. Since we started that, their reading ability has improved; they could write stories, which we have published for them. So we do a lot of capacity building for both students and teachers. We encourage the students to write through many means. We encourage them to tell their stories. We encourage them to form reading hubs.

Some states donate books to schools outside of what is on their reading lists as a way of encouraging reading culture among students. Are you thinking in that direction?’

With the Ihezie Foundation, we have got over 1 million books, which we have given to our schools. The Read Association has also brought four containers of books, which we are going to give out next year. We have formed reading hubs, and we have reading ambassadors for most communities where they encourage students to come together in clusters and read. We do book donations. We have given out a whole lot of books to schools. However, giving books does not translate to reading; that’s why we created reading ambassadors and reading hubs. In one or two communities that have worked well for us, we got volunteers passionate about that, forming clusters and getting the students to sit together and read. The advent of new media has not helped matters, but we are making progress.

Don’t you think parents have a big role to play in making their children develop reading culture early in life, for old habits, they say, die hard?

Parents have a lot of role to play here. I was still in primary school when I read all the classics, including King Solomon’s Mines. My father gave me all the books, and I used to read in the toilet. Some of our teachers who were my contemporary say they knew I would get to this level; they will tell you how they would be busy washing clothes and I would be busy reciting poems and dramatising things. So I agree with you. My parents taught me to read. My father taught me poetry as early as primary 2.

Do you believe in feminism?

I am a feminist. I like that word “feminist”. It is in my PhD dissertation. Throughout my childhood, I felt trapped by two things: my sex and colour. Feminism means change, creating and making an attempt to change, no matter the gender that is oppressed. There are no fast and hard rules about it. The point is that there is a patriarchal society that, most times, leaves the woman at a great disadvantage. If talking about it and trying to change the society to begin to recognize that we may not be equal but equally human beings, then I am a feminist. Are you a feminist?

Not entirely sure, madam (laughs).
Feminism is not all about women. That’s what some people don’t understand. But because women’s animosity is at the receiving end, people tend to associate it with women.

From the academia to managing education for Anambra State Government, how was the transition?
It was a little bit of shock when I first came here. In the university, we have our way of doing things. I was Head of Department of Mass Communications for 6 years. I was the Director of Unizik FM. But, to me, the university is a more structured place kind of place where you probably would know what comes up next. Here, you don’t know what is going to come next. You have to contend with the bureaucracy in the service and its channels of communication. You have to contend with a little bit of politics within the ministry and the main politics within the structure. You have to learn how to combine your administrative duties and your political duties.

Left to me –I call myself a technocrat –I could just down and be working; but you find out you can’t do it that way. You have to do the politicking that goes with the position. Sometimes you may go round and round and won’t even come to the office in a week. I have to device a means to attend which particular functions. Education is such a robust ministry. If you keep moving about all the time, you find out that the students will suffer. Thank God, we have a governor who also understands that, so it has helped in the long run.

You are regarded by stake holders as one of the best education commissioners Anambra State has ever produced. Coming into your office, I can see dozens of awards dotting your table. What differences have you made since you came onboard?
His Excellency, Chief Willie Obiano, made my job easy. When we came in 2014, he already had a blueprint on education. What I did was to internalise the blueprint, and work with it. It has a strategic objective that the learning needs of all must be met through equitable distribution of resources and learning of lifelong skills and ensure we are one of the three states in the lowest illiteracy rate in Nigeria. The governor said no child should be left behind. Then he said, “We want to give umu akwukwo ndi Anambra education that is globally competitive.”

To be able to do that, we looked at education from three-pronged areas: infrastructure –which does not only mean the building; it means state-of-the-art equipment in those areas; teachers’ welfare, which includes capacity building for teachers, prompt payment of salaries, exposing our teachers to competitions. And we have the students’ welfare, which include giving them good environment, ensuring they are exposed to global competiveness and participating in competitions.

For the governor, education is about ideology; it is what you believe that you profess, and what you profess that you do. So it was easy for me. For I knew what His Excellency wanted me to achieve. If you talk about some of the feats we have achieved, it has helped us really to ensure that no child will be behind.

In practice, is it working?

It is working, because, when we came in, an area that was highly neglected was the physically challenged. The first thing His Excellency did was to give free tuition for the physically challenged in the state; those in public schools don’t pay a kobo. If you go to Basden Memorial Special Education Centre, Isulo. When we came in, that place was a dungeon. You would never believe anybody lived there. The wife of the governor (Mrs E.V. Obiano) was the first person to go there. She cried and drew my attention to it. So we put a secondary school there, which is already in the sixth year now. It’s amazing how time flies. The other day, the governor gave them a bus, together with nine other schools. We renovated that place, built teachers’ quarters there, and made the place look like where somebody was living. Whether gifted child or physically challenged, we said nobody should be left behind.

We also started the revamping of our technical colleges. We used to have 11; now, we have 12 technical colleges. We are building 700 capacity hostels for all the technical colleges. We believe technical colleges are where to go, because we believe they solve the problem of unemployment, for we produce the middle level manpower that will help us in that regard. We want in this state what we call Education for Employment, and what we are trying to do is to run a bridge programme, bridging the gap between education and industry. We recently finished the Entrepreneurship Fair for students, to mention a few.

Do you have legacy projects to be proud of?

We are doing the fencing of about 43 boarding schools. We have completed 10 already of the girl’s boarding schools. We started with those ones first. Here, we don’t do anything half haphazardly. Now we are doing 43, and these 43 also include the technical colleges. We have also, through the Anambra Universal Education Board, renovating a lot of schools. He have retooled about 60 science laboratories out of the 256 schools that we have. There is a possibility of an upscale. We have also ensured the upgrade of our schools, with majority of them using whiteboards due to the health hazards of using blackboards.

We have also grown the capacity of our teachers, because we believe that quality teachers will make quality education. For example, we took our teachers to Singapore on a study tour, about 25 of them, to learn the Singaporean model of technical education. Just last month, we took two sets of our teachers and education officers to Dubai for some study tour, too. Some of them were people who we had to find a way to reward. This year’s Teachers Day Celebration, held at Eagle Square, Abuja, saw Anambra State wining four out of the 25 awards nationwide. In 2017, we won the Overall Best Teacher in Nigeria (Clement Okodo) and, in 2019 ,we won the Overall Best Administrator in Nigeria (Ezenwa Amara). So we build the capacity of the teachers all the time. We have done the one for Mathematic, English, History and Sciences. We have also done the one for literature in English. We found out that literature-in-English was our greatest downfall. So we gave the teachers some tests, and many of them didn’t do well.

And they were teaching literature-in-English schools?
Yes. We did our WAEC segregation, and we found out that literature was our greatest dampener. So we decided to boost the capacity. We gave them a test, and many didn’t do well. For the lady who scored 82 percent, her name was included among the teachers we took to Dubai for capacity building. Those things are not just what you just choose anybody. It is no longer a story that we do well with our students.

INTERVIEW: Biafra War Period Was Better Than Security Situation Now – Father Of Man Killed By Bandits

Arrested armed robbers in military uniforms. Image via Hope for Nigeria

Chief Samuel Ewoh Nnaji is the father of the late Nnameka Nnaji, who was shot dead by suspected kidnappers in military uniform at Gwagwalada along Lokoja-Abuja Road. He tells RAPHAEL EDE how the death of his son has devastated the family
How did you hear about the death of your son, Nnameka Nnaji?
My son was killed on December 8, 2019, very close to Gwagwalada, along with many others.

I received the sad news on the morning of Monday, December 9, 2019. My son was returning to Abuja from the burial of a friend he attended in Imo State. He was also in Anambra State. On his way to Abuja, some guys wearing army uniforms opened fire on commuters along Lokoja–Abuja Road near Gwagwalada. Unfortunately, he was one of those killed.

I didn’t hear the news of the incident on radio or read about it in the newspapers. There have been cases of such horrific and gruesome murder of Nigerians by bandits said to be herdsmen at the nation’s capital. The type of government we have now does not investigate when such things happen. Some of our people were kidnapped in the same area before my son experienced it. Our people who were kidnapped were working at Aninri Local Government Area of Enugu State. They were going for a seminar when they were abducted. They spent many days in the bush before ransom was paid for their release. Had it been they kidnapped my son and demanded ransom instead of killing him, it would have been better. He was a promising businessman.

Has he been buried?

Yes. Our people in Abuja brought his corpse to Amechi here. We buried him on December 18, 2019.

How do you feel about the incident?
I feel so despondent about this country of ours. It is only in this country, under this government, that such a thing will happen and the federal, state and local governments will not ask questions let alone commiserate with the affected family. Apart from journalists, no one is asking questions about how Nigerians are being killed in their prime. Just like this happened, so many others have happened without our government questions. It is not asking why people are being killed on a daily basis on our highways. It is only killings of people we hear about every day in Nigeria; it is regrettable.

The President [Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.)] should consider the type of country he will leave behind. We are not safe in our homes and when we are on the road, or going from one state to another, we are also not safe. What caused it? Are we fighting another civil war? If there is no war, why are some people killing others daily and the various governments are not asking questions? They have kept quiet as if nothing is happening and it is painful. I beg the government to re-strategise on how to save the people from these tragic deaths ravaging the country. What is the need of calling Nigeria a country when nobody asks questions when people are killed? It simply means that we don’t have a government.

So, I am calling on the government to find the people who gruesomely murdered my son and others in cold blood for no reason.

How tough has it been for you to deal with this loss?

There is nothing I can do; who am 1? Many other people have been killed and nothing happened. I cannot fight somebody I don’t know. If the government of Nigeria cannot do anything to protect Nigerians, who am I and what can I do?

Since the incident occurred, I have not been sleeping. To have a son of that age taken away from me by fellow human beings is painful. Do you think I am in a good world? I am in bad world but I think it is something that doesn’t have a remedy in Nigeria because killings have become a norm under the All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government. I don’t sleep and to tell you the truth, there is nothing I know that I can do than to take it to God in prayer.

Life in Nigeria has no meaning. We are no longer alive in Nigeria.


How is your wife coping?

What can we do? She is crying every day. We are praying, asking God to save us from this demonic and misrule in this country. We had not seen such a thing in Nigeria before; it is only recently that these things are manifesting. I am 74 years old and have lived in this country all my life. I never saw something like this even during the Nigerian Civil War. Our situation then was better than the situation we have now in Nigeria.

What plans are in place to take care of the family he left behind?

I will start work again. I trained my son, thinking that I would rest later in life. I will start from where I stopped. It is not the normal thing but I have no other choice.

What do you want the Muhammadu Buhari regime to do?
The Federal Government should save those of us that are still alive. Such a thing should never happen again; they should protect us. That is why we have government. That is why they are there to look after us. Should we stay in the water and still have soap lather getting into our eyes? The economy is bad, but life is still the most important thing to a human being. It is only when you are alive that you can talk about a bad economy.

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53 Communities Drop FGM in Imo, Vow to Prosecute Offenders

Image: Wikipedia

BY AMBY UNEZE

OWERRI (THIS DAY LIVE)--In line with the Imo State Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Prohibition Law No. 6 of 2017, about 54 autonomous communities in two local government areas of the state have publicly declared the abandonment of the practice of FGM and warned those who intended to go back to the practice should be prosecuted.

The two local governments are Ikeduru and Oguta council areas, as their traditional rulers, president-generals, women and youth leaders, and religious leaders gathered in their respective council headquarters to publicly re-state their collective resolutions of abandonment of FGM in all the communities under them.

In their separate resolutions signed by Chairman of Ikeduru Council of Traditional Rulers, Eze Marcel Egemonu and Chairman and Secretary of Oguta Council of Traditional Rulers, Eze F.C. Okafor and Eze Albanus Ozuruoha respectively, said female genital mutilation had ceased to be a culture and tradition of the people of all the villages and communities in the two local governments.

According to them, “we the royal fathers of the various autonomous communities in the local governments and their entire people having been sensitised about the harmful effect of female genital mutilation, and having deliberated during several community dialogues and consensus building meetings, have recognised the immediate and long-term negative health and psychological consequences of FGM on the health of our daughters, wives, sisters, nieces and any other women who is subjected to this very harmful traditional practice.

“We also acknowledge that FGM is a denial of girls’ and women’s ability to fully exercise their human rights and to be free from discrimination, violence and inequality; based on these reasons we have reached a consensus to publicly declare; to leave our girls and women intact, because their beauty is preserved when they remain the way that God created them.

“To set up surveillance systems, in each community, to tract the birth of every girl-child and monitor them to ensure that they are not subjected to FGM, and to handover any community member who engages in FGM to law enforcement agencies for prosecution in accordance with the Imo State Female Genital Mutilation (Prohibition) Law 2017, or any other law prohibiting the practice in the State.

“Based on this public declaration, the practice of female genital mutilation is now forbidden in our local governments. We, hereby, urge everyone present today to publicise this decision to all the sons and daughters of the two local governments as well as our friends and well-wishers in Imo State and beyond,” they stated.

Expressing satisfaction over the decision to forbid female genital mutilation in their respective local government councils, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Chief of Field Office, Enugu, Dr. Ibrahim Conte urged the leaders of the various communities and villages in the council areas to maintain strictly the abandonment of FGM in their respective areas.

Conte, who represented by the UNICEF officer in charge of Child Protection, Mr. Victor Akachukwu said that the world body was happy to see this declaration of abandonment of female genital mutilation in the two local government areas saying “I want to say a big congratulations to you. If you abandonment FGM, we have keyed into the sustainable development goals (SDGs) tenets. After the public declaration, what do we do next is to monitor strict enforcement. We have to set up a surveillance team to monitor that is does not happen again in our areas”.

The leader of the abandonment of FGM sensitisation and Imo State Director of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr. Vitus Ekeocha described the publication declaration by the two local government leaders a broad social recognition which shows that the most people in the communities support FGM abandonment and would most like abandon the ugly practice, adding that the action marks a significant step in the campaign to end FGM.

He said that FGM being a social norm that regarded as collective representation of acceptable group conduct as well as individual perceptions of particular group conduct, therefore, they are viewed on cultural products which represent individual’s basic knowledge of what others do and think they should do, hence its abandonment should be a collective willingness.

Ekeocha recalled the process the UNICEF and her partners took to realise the declaration of abandonment of FGM proper being the outcome of various engagements, dialogue and advocacy meetings with critical segments on the immediate and long-term negative health and psychological consequences of FGM on the health of girls and women in the various villages and communities of the two local government areas.

According to Ekeocha, the journey towards ending FGM began in 2015 when UNICEF supported NOA to collaborate with the Imo State Ministries of Health, Gender and Social Development, Information, Child Protection Network to embark on the campaign promoting the rights and positive perception of the girl-child who has not undergone FGM.

He said “the Ministry of Gender and Vulnerable Groups Affairs through Child Rights Department was supported by UNICEF to inaugurate LGA Technical Committee on FGM (LTC).The Ministry also trained prosecutors, judiciary, magistrates, judges, police and lawyers on FGM practice and extant laws that prohibit the practice with the view to ending the practice.

He, therefore, reminded all the leaders in the various councils that having agreed that FGM is a harmful cultural practice; and not a religious requirement and has been abolished in all the villages and communities in the two local government areas, then the crucial role of mounting surveillance systems would established in affirming compliance.

FG Pledges To Lift STK Herbal Medicine, As NIPRD DG Tours Imo Factory

Obi Adigwe. Image: Twitter

BY AMBY UNEZE

OWERRI (THIS DAY LIVE)--The Director General of the National Institute for Pharmaceuticals Research and Development (NIPRD), Abuja, Dr. Obi Adigwe has expressed federal government’s interest in promoting and improving herbal medicine for the cure of ailments.

This is as the Institute commended the management of STK Biotech Limited for producing world-class standard herbal supplement from plants for the treatment of diseases.

Adigwe, who made the observation during a facility tour of the factory at Umuoba, Uratta in Owerri North Local Government of Imo State, stated that the research for the production of the medicines met international standards more especially as the company sourced their raw materials locally and within the nearby West African sub-region.

According to him, there were a lot of potentials in what they were doing, adding, “I am impressed that they are able to transform what they had carried out in research into finished and useful products. It is a good beginning. The concept is quite encouraging inspite of the many challenging confronting you.”

Adigwe said, “My coming here and seeing what you are doing is a major step in coming to Abuja and Addis Ababa (African Union) headquarters for certification. We will see what to do to encourage you”.

He, however, urged the STK Biotech to carry the Anglo and Francophone West Africa countries in mind by printing the literature of the herbal supplement in English and French to enable both countries patronise the medicine.

Briefing the NIPRD Director General, Chairman of STK Biotech Limited, Mr. Stanley Ukaga said that they had been into research for a number of years having established partnership with Phytobiotechnology Research Laboratories in Cameroon and Science Medicine Research Institute United States of America (USA).

He said that time had come for the Nigerian government to fully support drug development projects involving the use of the herbs, adding “We have worked extensively on mushrooms which is an integral part of the STK Biotech products. Cultivation of mushrooms especially edible mushrooms for food, source of revenue as well as for medicinal purposes is very crucial to the Nigerian populace.

“We have succeeded in the cultivation of edible indigenous tropical mushrooms on different agricultural wastes for food and medicine. We have also put in place the facility to cultivate mushrooms to have ever-ready source and reduce our dependence on sourcing it from elsewhere beyond our shores,” he stated.

Ukaga maintained that inspite of the many challenges confronting them which include getting the regulators on time, power, dedicated manpower and government financial support, they were also confronted with issues of sourcing raw materials which were mainly located locally.

The Chief Operating Officer of STK Biotech, Prof. Kenneth Yongabi Anchang, who is also a Professor of Public Health and Infectiology, Imo State University, Owerri (IMSU) said STK Biotech was continuously identifying, testing and tagging plants as part of the development of a medicinal research garden. The results of this ongoing discovery which begun 10-11 years ago at the Phytobiotechnology Research Laboratories in Cameroon and is continuing here in Nigeria with the collaboration of Imo State University, Owerri gave credence to this discovery.

In her remark, Professor Chinyere Ukaga, a director of the company as well as a Professor of Public Health Parsitology, Imo State University, Owerri added that STK Biotech was engaged in a broad range of ecological scientific studies, ranging from ethno-botany and Phyto-biotechnology to medicine and pharmacology.

She noted that time had come for Nigerian government to fully support drug development projects involving the use of herbs to treat ailments including malaria, cancer, HIV, etc. “The need to develop accurate dosages for phyto-products which have been certified to have anti-parasitic activities is one of the focus of STK Biotech Ltd.

“The government needs to devise means of monitoring the medicinal plants, encourage their cultivation, conservation and preservation. This data can be generated through research by STK Biotech Ltd with support from the relevant funding bodies.

“There is need to centralise and expand the checklist of locally available medicinal plants in the country as a database for medicinal plant research”, he added.

Gowon Meets Ikemba In Asaba

Yakubu Gowon

BY EMEKA OBASI

For Gen. Yakubu Gowon, there is no running away from his friend, Chief Emeka Ojukwu. They wined and dined together as young military officers at the Samaritan Club, Kaduna. They fought but are never apart.

Gowon was In Asaba recently where he met a new Ikemba, Emma Okocha, who is going to receive his title today from the Asagba, Prof. Chike Edozien. The former Nigerian leader has had sleepless nights over the Biafran genocide especially the atrocity committed by troops under him as Commander-in-Chief.

It was tough for Gowon. He had visited in 2002 to publicly apologise to the people. Then the general packaged himself as a prayer warrior. He still prays and led some of his band of pray masters to the Asagba’s palace.

Unfortunately, the Asagba was mourning his younger brother, Prof. Emmanuel Chukwuma, who passed on last October and was in no mood to receive any August visitor.

Gowon knew more than that. The Asagba was forced into exile during the Civil War by the Gowon regime. He first fled to France before relocating to The United States.

It was sad that a man who had attained the rank of Professor at the University of Ibadan in 1961, and was Dean, Faculty of Medicine became a refugee in Europe and when he found his way to the US had to climb the ladder again before becoming a professor at the University of North Carolina in 1971.

Gowon put shame aside and decided not to leave the palace until he was attended to. On a second thought, Her Royal Majesty, Ugwunwanyi , Modupe Edozien, went back to the Asagba.

The doors were flung open as the royals put heads together. When Gowon was told that the Asagba’s wife was the granddaughter of Herbert Macaulay, he marveled.

The general chipped in an amusing anecdote. “My elder brother looked very much like Herbert Macaulay,” he said.

Gowon thanked the Asagba for choosing to honour Okocha with the title of Ikemba Asaba. Still throwing banters with palace officials, he said the late Ikemba , Emeka Ojukwu, was his good friend and it was delightful to have another friend, Okocha as Ikemba.

The former Nigerian leader confessed not knowing the magnitude of the Asaba genocide until he read Okocha’s bestseller, ‘Blood On The Niger.’ And he apologized once again to the people and regretted not doing anything to compensate them during his tenure as Head of State.

It is glaring that even as Commander-in-Chief, Gowon did not know much about what transpired in the frontlines. And the GOC of the Second Division, Col. Murtala Mohammed, had little regard for his boss.

The October 1967 genocide was carried out by troops of that division. To be fair to Murtala, he was at his Operational Headquarters in Umunede when Maj. Ibrahim Taiwo led his battalion to destroy all able bodied men in Asaba.

Okocha lost siblings and other family members. Entire families were wiped out. Some accounts say the River Niger turned red as women were compelled to bury their husbands and children while Nigerian troops watched.

Right inside Gowon’s Kitchen Cabinet, there was a mourner. Philip Asiedu was Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Industries and had followed Gowon to Aburi, Ghana in defence of One Nigeria.

His younger brother, Sidney, was holed up in Asaba. Trained at the University of Nigeria Nsukka as a Zoologist, he was a great athlete and represented Nigeria at the Tokyo ’64 Olympic Games.

As a student of Igbobi College, Lagos, Sidney Asiodu was named Sportsman of the Year, 1963. He was Senior Prefect, Soccer Skipper as well as Cricket captain. All that did not matter to his killers even when they knew there was an Asiodu in Lagos married to Olajumoke, a daughter of Oduduwa.

Sidney Asiodu’s death did not spread the sad tale. For an Olympian and the fastest man at the First West African Universities Game in 1966, the academic community and the globe did not make any move.

It took the courage of Okocha to pen down what happened in Asaba just like things happened in other parts of Biafra. More touching was the revelation that Mrs Maryam Babangida’s father, Ogbueshi Leo Okogwu, was killed by a Nigerian Army Major when Babangida was also a major on the Nigerian side.

Okocha’s book got America involved. And today, the Asaba genocide is no more a footnote. It has become part of the dark moment of History. And we must not forget that the Asagba lived in America until he returned to Nigeria in 1991.

Emma Okocha does not see himself as the Ikemba of Asagba. He belongs to all Igbo and proudly displays his achievements as a prolific writer. He was Sports Editor of Jim Nwobodo’s Satellite newspaper and writes for Daily Sun.

While Gowon keeps frequenting Asaba in search of forgiveness, Col. Sani Bello keeps identifying with the Igbo. The latter was at the funeral of his business associate, Prof. Emmanuel Edozien, Ojiba of Asaba.

Bello as an Army Lieutenant, was Aide de Camp to Gen. Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi when he was abducted by a bunch of blood thirsty other ranks in Ibadan. The first military Head of State was assassinated but Bello spared his Air Force colleague, Captain Andrew Nwankwo.

Gowon has his own story to tell. Those who toppled Ironsi to pave way for him also sent the former packing. Murtala took over in 1975 and was murdered by some people close to Gowon.

That almost cost Gowon his life. At a time he was stripped of his ranks and declared wanted. The military coordinator of Gowon’s wedding, Col. Iliya Bisalla, was executed.

Bisalla’s wife, Mildred, suffered. Her elder sister, Helen Gomwalk, was jailed for life. Her brother-in-law, Joseph Gomwalk, faced firing squad. Gowon’s elder sister, was married to a Dimka while Lt. Col Bukar Dimka was also executed. Okocha says Gowon is humble. I would not be surprised if Gowon turned up to celebrate with the man who made him see the Civil War from a different perspective.

Prof. Emma Okocha was crowned Ogbueshi Mkpagbu in 2014. He drank from the fountain of Dr. Dennis Osadebay.

SOURCE: VANGUARD

Ihedioha: My Target Is To Make Imo Most Viable Economy By 2025

Emeka Ihedioha

BY DAMIAN DURUIHEOMA

OWERRI (THE NATION)--Imo State governor, Emeka Ihedioha, has said that his efforts at rebuilding the state were targeted at making Imo to be one of the top most developed states in the country in five years time.

Ihedioha also said that within seven months in office, his administration had been able to restore effective budget presentation, reduce cost of governance, embarked on extensive road rehabilitation projects, deployed technology as an enabler for effective service delivery and carried out broad reforms in the state civil service.

“About the same period also, Imo State was appraised the Best Overall Performing State in ICT Development by the National Council on Communication and Digital Economy. Our comprehensive effort to deploy technology as an enabler for effective service delivery is yielding positive results. We have carried out trainings of our youths and

women, set up two ICT hubs in the state while the Digital Imo Project is on course”.

He added that another dimension in his administration’s reform process was that “we have revitalized the Local Governments for optimal performance. Today, they are receiving their full statutory allocations directly. Under our constitutional oversight, our 27 Local Governments are constructing standard secretariat buildings to provide adequate accommodation and conducive working environment for workers”.

Ihedioha told the stakeholders that his administration was poised to achieve food security and agricultural revolution in the State in line with its stated policy.

He said, “We launched a Youth-in-Agriculture programme and have

trained over 600 youths in various forms of agricultural production and agro-business skills. The Rice Mill in Ihitte- Uboma has been revived with Arondiuzogu mills coming up next January. This Christmas, many homes in Imo State would be eating rice planted, processed and packaged in Imo State.

The state’s ADAPALM is being revived while we have brought a viable investor for the Avutu Poultry Farm.”

Papal Nuncio Visits Borrisoleigh To Celebrate A Famous Son In 2019

Derry Bourke honoured Archbishop Jude Okolo with gifts on June 2 during a parish celebration

TIPPERARY LIVE REPORTER

Borrisoleigh in north Tipperary celebrated the memory of one of their famous sons, Bishop Joseph Shanahan, on Sunday, June 2 this year.

The Papal Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Jude Thadeus Okolo, from southern Nigeria, was the chief celebrant, proud to acknowledge the man of whom they say, ‘He was our Saint Patrick.’

He was the apostle of southern Nigeria, from the day he stepped ashore from the River Niger in Onitsha in 1902.

With other Spiritan priests he brought the news of the saving love of Jesus which the people accepted eagerly; he also brought them education which he believed in passionately, as their gateway into the modern world.

As time went on he felt strongly that women missionaries were needed to reach out to the women, and this led him to found the Holy Rosary Sisters to do just that.

In Borrisoleigh, Fr Hennessy, the parish priest, the nieces and nephews of Joseph Shanahan to the third and fourth generation, with all the people of the parish, gave a big welcome to those who came to celebrate with them; after a beautiful Mass, at which the story of his life was told and everyone did their part with practiced skill, including the choir, there was tea and sandwiches for all, and music, song and Irish dancing performed by young and old.

After this they visited the Bishop Shanahan monument in Glenkeen and heard more of the story and more songs.

Borrisoleigh poet and local historian Derry Bourke presented a gift of two commemorative CDs to Archbishop Okolo, and Sister Angele Nkamsi.

Sister Nkamsi wrote to Derry. “I was overtaken by the words of the song and Paudric’s rendtion of Borrisoleigh My Native Home on June 2. The words are powerful.”

Archbishop Okolo wrote: “On that beautiful day, everyone was happy and the weather was very cooperative. Bishop Shanahan must have smiled from heaven. Please share our best wishes with the good people of Borrisoleigh.”

Borrisoleigh My Native Home

It's the place I was born and raised in,
Borrisoleigh is my native home,
You may travel far, far over,
To find a place like Borrisoleigh
Those winding roads that keep you going,
Slope down to Glenkeen, Where history is around you, In our ancient monastery,

Chorus
Those lovely hills and sleepy valleys,
Are the byways to my home,
You may far, far over, to find a place like Borrisoleigh,
Where the people are so fair and happy,
And their music so nice and sweet,
Where our hurling is like religion,
In my home from Borrisoleigh,

We can't forget that lovely chapel,
Sitting on fair Illeigh,
Where the views are full of beauty,
And bring you home to Borrisoleigh.

Foundation Enrols 200 Anambra Senior Citizens For Health Insurance

Godwin Ubaka Okeke. Image: Wiki-Commons

BY DAVID CHYDDY ELEKE

No fewer than 200 senior citizens of Anambra State between the ages of 70 and 100 have been enrolled into the state’s Health Insurance scheme (ASHIA) by a foundation to lessen the burden of taking care of their health needs.

The foundation, Godwin and Patricia Foundation, speaking through its Chairman, Chief Godwin Ubaka, said it decided to undertake the enrolment and also cater for their health needs because they knew that even though old age was a blessing, it came with diverse health challenges.

ASHIA is a health insurance scheme of the Anambra State Government inaugurated by Governor Willie Obiano in September 2018 to help indigenes of the state take care of their health at a minimal cost.

Speaking at the event, which took place at ARISE Clinic Adazi-Ani in Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra State, Okeke said: “The beneficiaries are elders between the ages of 70 and above. They are my age mates.”

“I decided to have a repeat of the celebration this festive period with my age mates and those my senior, all selected by churches in the various villages and denominations, in my community,” he said.

Some of the beneficiaries including a 98-year-old woman, Juliana Ajagu; Mrs. Angelina Mbamalu; Mr. Godwin Akulenna; and Mrs. Maria Egunofo among others.

They expressed happiness for the gesture, while praying God to keep Sir Godwin and Lady Patricia Okeke to continue to answer to their needs.

The General Manager, ARISE Clinics, Okoye Augustine Amakom, whose hospital would take charge of the health needs of the beneficiaries, describing the event as something that has never happened in Adazi Ani and thanked Okeke and wife, Patricia for thinking of others always.

He said: “The incessant death in the society is sequel to lack of good health care, hence the enlisting of the elders was unique as Sir Godwin and Lady Patricia are undertaking the cost of their treatment, 100 per cent for all ailments.”

As a show of love, Okeke and his wife also presented bags of rice and cash to the beneficiaries who were drawn from six different churches.

SOURCE: THIS DAY LIVE

Imo Saved N281m by flushing out ghost pensioners —Ihedioha

Government House, Owerri, Imo State.

BY CHIDIEBUBE OKEOMA

OWERRI (PUNCH)--The governor of Imo, Emeka Ihedioha, has said the state saved N281m by “flushing out ghost pensioners” from its pensions scheme.

The governor, who spoke at Imo stakeholders’ luncheon held at the Government House, Owerri, said his administration achieved the feat by introducing bio-metric verification exercise for all the pensioners in the state.

Ihedioha said, “The state government has concluded a pension verification exercise which has flushed out ghost pensioners, saving us more than N281m.

“Today, our pensioners are being paid and treated with respect.”

The governor said the goal of his administration was to make Imo one of the three states with the best economies in Nigeria by 2025 and the best 10 in Africa by 2030.

He said, “We considered it necessary to give you an update on the progress we have made towards the fulfilment of our promises.

“We laid out a vision to become one of the top three most developed economies in Nigeria by 2025 and rank within Africa’s top 10 economies by 2030.

“We also set out to achieve this by leveraging our abundant human capital and natural resources to build an economy anchored on good governance, wealth creation, value for money and rule of law.

“These have yielded positive results.

“Recently, the National Bureau of Statistics rated Imo the Least Corrupt State in its second corruption survey.

“We are not unmindful of the huge burden laid on us by this outstanding rating and the challenge of sustaining a positive public perception.


“We are, therefore, committed to redoubling our efforts to hold our performance high-grounds.”

“We have reduced the cost of governance by trimming down the number of ministries from 32 to 18 and introduced the Treasury Single Account into our revenue collection and accounting system.

“This has put paid to the over 260 government accounts we met. As a result, we have stemmed revenue leakages and significantly increased our Internally Generated Revenues from what we met of about N250ma month to more than a billion naira this month of December. This is just the beginning.

“We have restored effective Budget presentation and created a separate ministry for budget and planning and the preparation was participatory.”