Category: Life – The Midweek Magazine

By Ozolua Uhakheme,  Assistant Editor (Arts)

 

From watching cartoons like Disney, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon on television, many young creative minds grew up to be passionate about art, visual art especially. To them, this fictional world sometimes goes beyond entertainment as they find the characters, images and performances intriguing. Consequently, many fall in love with art, with it becoming their cherished profession later in life.

This is the story of US-based Nigerian visual development artist and animation designer, Umaimah Damakka from Sokoto State. Born in Zaria, she lived with her parents until they moved to Kano. Growing up in the North, she watched many cartoons from studios like Disney, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon.

According to a report, she also spent some of her time reading the Archie Comics supplied to her mom’s store. It was through these moments that she fell in love with art. To her, ‘seeing these characters that don’t exist in real life come alive on screen was a thing of magic. It was inspiring to know that people were responsible for creating a whole fictional world that viewers could relate to and fall in love with, and she wanted to be part of a team like that.’

Today she is working as a Colour Designer with Disney on a reboot for the award-winning show The Proud Family.

“Loving cartoons came with the awareness that many of the animated shows she watched did not reflect her kind of society, which inspires the type of artwork that she does today. She uses the style we see in animation to design characters, paint worlds and stories based in Nigeria,” the report added.

As a digital artist, she creates her work using hardware such as iPads or Wacom Tablets with software like Procreate or Adobe Photoshop. These are the industry standard tools in the animation world.

She used Photoshop to design characters and create character sheets of poses and expressions. While in college, her work was noticed by award-winning director and actor Jordan Peele, and it was featured in a Universal Studio Gallery show. In her final year, she co-directed and was the art director of her thesis film Harvest, which is currently making waves at festivals such as Prix Royal Paris Animation Award, Kid’s First Film Festival and Standalone Film Festival with two official selections so far.

She graduated with a BA in Animation from Savannah College of Arts and Design, Atlanta, Georgia. Since then, she has worked with studios like Cartoon Network, Sesame Studios and Disney TV Animation with offers from other places like Warner Brothers. She has also freelanced for published authors under Harper Collins.

When she is not drawing or falling in love with cartoons over and over again, she  her  time romance novels, perfect her cooking skills and talking to her family back at home.

Some of her animations are images common to northern Nigeria, which reflect the socio-cultural life styles of the people. Female dress code, hair styles, uses of gourds as and decorative art, thatched in rural settlements are also part of her works.

 

By Ozolua Uhakheme, Assistant Editor (Arts)

 

Centuries after renaissance, Master Leonardo Da Vinci painted the famous Mona Lisa, oil on paper (1503), the portrait continues to attract attention of art enthusiasts and collectors from across the globe. Today, the painting offers different perspectives and opportunities for many generations of artists and scholars, photographers inclusive, to express their impressions. In fact, many scholars are also fascinated by the mystery of Mona Lisa’s smile and posture among other features.

One of such adventurous photographers is 20-year-old Nigerian Olawale Ololade, who grew up into photography under the tutelage of his father who is a film producer and director.

The first year student of Banking and Finance, Lagos State University, Ojo, is inspired by the famous painting of Da Vinci to explore digital photography in expressing his feelings about his environment and people.

Ololade is not keen about fashion or society photography. His interest is to use photograph to comment on issues in the society.

“I started Fine Art photography by doing more intentional pieces about my images and not just taking pictures. I started writing scripts for weeks to develop just an idea before taking the shots. This is to enable me have perfect interpretation of what I am trying to say. Fine Art photography is my base now, it’s something I just did out of fun and everybody is seeing it now and having good comment about it,” he said.

According to Ololade, a lot of things excite him in photography. He can imagine things and show his interpretations of different views of life visually without having to talk about it. “I love interpreting man and environment. I can do more for my environment and society at large with photography. I can talk on issues with photography,” he added.

His recent photograph Lucynder, a replica of Mona Lisa is fast becoming the toast of collectors from across the world, especially Europe and America. The 16 x 20 photograph, which took him six hours to shoot and three days to edit, now goes for 300 dollars per copy. The finishing of the artwork was achieved through the use of photography to get the base image and the aid of digital painting to adjust and create the needed environment similar to Mona Lisa’s.

On how he got enchanted to Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, he recalled: “I’m a fan of Leonardo da Vinci. I was listening to a song one day and the lyric was Mona Lisa and it got stuck to my head. That made me to check Mona Lisa image up on the internet. I knew Mona Lisa image wasn’t a woman but a cross dresser in 14th century when he painted it.  The artist was an engineer aside been a painter. I think he also painted the Mona Lisa out of imagination. He did it with fun.”

Ololade’s vision as a young photographer is to be a renowned artist that will use photography as a means of communication.  Although studying Banking and Finance, Ololade eats and breathes photography, which is driven by his passion. To him, it is a life-long love with camera, as he is not ready to part way with photography soon.

“Though I will retire someday, but I am not going to stop photography even at 60, 70 and 80 years, I will still have camera by my side and still taking pictures.  I will be a photographer forever because it is no longer a work but a passion. As long as I can affect the society without talking about it, I can change the point of view of people and tell stories with photography. I am happy and fulfilled,” he noted.

With this, Ololade is committing his time and energy to develop his skill in modern photography of the millennia, which is powered by information technology. In no time, this passion will earn him honour, fame and livelihood, though a proud graduate of finance and banking. The Nigerian creative sector, no doubt, holds the ace for such a young entrepreneur to blossom.

He is a man of many parts. But his contributions to educational development, especially Journalism/Mass Communication, have etched his name on timeless marble. Welcome erudite scholar and accomplished journalist, Prof. Idowu Akanbi Sobowale. Widely celebrated as a “teacher of teachers”, the multidisciplinary journalist who turned 80 recently is credited with producing hundreds of scholars and journalists. In this interview with EVELYN OSAGIE, he recounts his journey into the worlds of journalism and academia.

 

What being 80 feels like

Honestly, I’m grateful to God because there are many people who wanted to attain that age but never got to it. Quite honestly, apart from aches, some pains and feeling rather sleepy these days, I don’t feel any different from how I felt when I was 60 or 70.

I’m always, in my mind, wanting to do so many things. But my wife and my children restrain me that I’m no longer who I was when I could jump up and down. That God gave me the grace to be 80, and to be well and alive, I cannot thank Him enough. A few years back, I experienced some indisposition that required my having to travel up and down; but this year that I was not able to travel because of the pandemic, I’ve just been feeling like a fiddle, as strong as fit as ever.

 

My background: From farming to PhD holder

 

I was born of a farmer and a petty trader mother. I lived in the village until I was 13. I was becoming a successful farmer actually as at the time I determined, on the spur of the moment, that I was going to the city to learn to become a mechanic. And that caused a lot of uproar in the family; eventually, I was asked to go to school for one year in order to be numerate so that when my mechanic master say “Bring a spanner 5/8, I will not go and bring a screwdriver. That was the purpose of my going to school, and it was supposed to be for one year. But as God planned it, three months after I entered into school, without having ever seen the inside of a classroom, I took the third position during the first term examination. And from there on it has been no stop. Until, eventually, I found myself at Syracuse in the United States to do my Masters Degree, which I combined with coursework for PhD; and in three years I was back with not only Masters but with PhD.

 

Nuggets from my background prepared me for  the man I became

I think some of the virtues that I imbibed from my father, my brothers and other relatives that surrounded me were obedience, patience, hardwork, and of course tolerance. I would say I’m quite a tolerant person; but don’t push your luck too hard in that direction because once I say “No”, then it becomes no. Those were the things I acquired. And in journalism too I found them exceedingly useful because there have been assignments, several of them, that my colleagues and I attended and they had left out of boredom or impatience. And then, they had paid off for me with heart-rending stories of national importance for which my colleagues who did not have the patience to wait had been either queried or punished in some other ways.

 

My voyage into journalism and the academia

My experience are varied. I started with the Daily Times Training School; we were to spend one year there. After one month, Dr. Ayodele Kekere Ekun, (now a dental surgeon) and myself (incidentally now a Professor of Communication Studies) were taken out of that training school by our Australian trainer and sent to the newsroom to be attached to established reporters. And in less than a month of my getting into the newsroom, they started assigning me alone to cover assignments. I started with the court, police beat which I did for a number of years. Then, I was being assigned to other political, economic, social events on my own. In no time at all, I started earning bylines. In the Daily Times in those days, bylines didn’t come cheap. You really have to earn them. Again, it wasn’t quite long that I got there and I started handling assignments independently that I told the subeditors, handling my stories, that if they had to change more than three words or ideas or sentences in my stories they should not give me a byline because I no longer regarded such stories as mine. Some people thought it was arrogance or pride but I saw it that if I was asked to do something, I should be able to do it to the satisfaction of my news editor or editors. And so it has been.

 

My journey into the academia

My journey into the academia began with comments of a friend of mine who is now late, Kola Adesina. We were so close and both reporters at the airport: he was working for WNTV/WNBS – Western Nigerian Television Station and Western Nigerian Broadcasting Service. I had a motorcycle that we were taking to the airport. And he called me one day, saying that I seemed to have been taken away by the bylines that I was enjoying and the fact that my name was everywhere in Daily Times. Then, if any story was big in the paper, it must have been written by me. And he said if I didn’t go further in my educational pursuits, I would just see that I was getting bylines and those who went further are getting all the positions and making all the money. I didn’t quite believe him, and didn’t think it could happen to me. Until, something happened. One of those that we started Daily Times Training School with Agbeke Ogunsanwo – called ‘Aunty Agbeke’ – had a page that she was producing every week. I left her in the school when she came out; she went to University of Lagos (UNILAG) to do a diploma in the Department of Mass Communication. As soon as she came out, she was raised to the position of the line editor, and was making more money than I was. And Kola reminded me of what he said. And that spurred me to seek admission to do a diploma at the Department of Mass Communication, UNILAG. In fact, for one and half years, before I finished that programme, the position of the assistant editor of Daily Times was reserved or should I say frozen for me. Such that a day after I wrote my last paper, I resumed as the assistant editor in Daily Times. When I was at UNILAG for the diploma, there was a window for me and five others from five different media houses to convert to do the degree programme. We applied. Our colleagues who came into the degree programme direct were not happy and complained; but our performances convinced the university management beyond doubt that our ambition was not unwarranted. For instance, I got the best results in the diploma programme, and I dusted everybody in the degree programme.

 

The second year in the degree programme, the Federal Government awarded me a sponsorship as a result of my performance. I was on the Daily Times programme such that they were paying my fees and my salary. So, I told them to stop the fees and salary because I wanted to enjoy Federal Government scholarship; but they kept paying my salary. And by the third year when we graduated, I got almost all the prizes that were available, including a six weeks sponsorship to the United Kingdom for the best student in Mass Communication. I and the fellow who also got it at Nsukka then went to UK together for six weeks. It was one thing leading to the other. Again, that pattern replicated itself when I went to Syracuse for my Masters’ programme and I came back with PhD.

 

How Daily Times led me to classroom

I probably wouldn’t have gone into the academia if I had been well treated at the Daily Times when I got back. But my salary, car allowance and other emolument were not up to, may his soul rest in peace, Chief Areoye Oyebola that I was assisting as editor. My emolument were not up to the car allowance of the late Gbolabo Ogunsanwo, who was editing the Sunday Times whom I was made to believe I was a little superior to in terms of the hierarchy of the Daily Times. That made me to go back to UNILAG for a teaching appointment as an assistant lecturer in 1975. The fellow that was holding the department then, Mr. Richard Askino, was a UNESCO person sponsored to come and establish a broadcast section of journalism in the department for Nigeria and West Africa. And when I told him about my desire, he was quite interested; but said they could not pay me because being the assistant editor of Daily Times that my salary was even higher than that of the Vice Chancellor – that was their own perception. And I said it wasn’t for salary but I wanted a wider circle of Nigerians to benefit from my knowledge. He was excited and even gave me the sheet of paper with which I wrote the application.

And he took it to the Vice Chancellor’s office, and in less than 30 minutes, he came back with an approval for temporary assistant lecturer, pending the time that they would organise an interview panel that I would face and that would evaluate my ability for that position. That was how I started. And before that year ended, I also gained admission to Syracuse. And when I came back I should have started as lecturer II; but the hardwork that I did with the grace of God in Syracuse gave me an edge. I came back with four solid publications in the best international journals and a book. At the interview, I told the panel that I was interviewing for Lecturer I, but they chided me that as an assistant lecturer, the position I should be interviewed for is Lecturer II. I stood my ground and told them, it was Lecturer I or nothing. And then they chided me that I could not dictate. But because the quality of the publications I brought was what gave me the confidence; and when they announced the results, it was Lecturer I.  It was not long after that I became acting head of the department (HOD) and to the glory of God, that tenure of mine was remarkable. I was twice acting HOD. Because you do not become the HOD in an academic institution until you are a full professor but at LASU and at Olabisi Onabanjo University, I was the dean because we established schools there in those places.

Imagine irate youth protesters suddenly becoming friends with the police, protecting the station from being vandalised, especially during and after the #EndSARS. That was the case of a policeman at the Agboju Divisional Police Office, Satellite Division in Oriade Local Government Area of the Lagos State. Like the case of Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Rabiu Garba of Fegge, Onitsha in Anambra State, the station was one of the few ones in Lagos that were not burnt down during the #EndSARS protests that rocked the entire country. AMBROSE NNAJI writes of the man and how the entire community is calling for his promotion and recommendation.

Nightfall at the Satellite Town of the Lagos State often brought with it fear. Fear brought about by the nefarious activities of armed robbers and miscreants.

This had been the case for some time but little did they know that their end would come so soon.

Their end began when every night some policemen, led by their superior, would take to the streets, despite his position, to comb the Express Road. He and his men ensured that traffic robbery was brought to an end in Satellite Town of Lagos State.

At Satellite Town in particular, there are many motor parks and young men who take hard drugs. But to his credit many hoodlums and notorious criminals have been contained. Welcome to Chike Oti, the DPO of Agboju Police Station.

Here is a man who ensured his jurisdiction was rid of attacks by miscreants. The most-talked about achievement was Oti’s overthrow of a notorious terrorist who paraded himself as ‘Oba’ that once lived in Satellite Town.

“For more than 25 years, people in Satellite Town were tied to the Oba’s apron strings, suffering under him,” began Oti. “Oba was an outlaw whom no one could challenge his authority, else they were done for. I am talking of a man who would drive a landlord out of his house and possess it, and hand it over to his son. He threw the man’s tenants away and put his own tenants. He operated with impunity: all tanker/trailer drivers must pay him. But I stood my ground and gave him a good fight, won over him and today, we are free,” he recounted.

His dedication to duty not only caught the eyes of the community but ended up saving his station and the lives of his men during the #EndSARS saga. Oti’s station, like that of Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Rabiu Garba of Fegge, Onitsha, was one of the few stations in Lagos that were not burnt down.

“The EndSARS saga would have provided an opportunity for this criminal to unleash terror on the people. Here in Satellite Town, nobody was killed, no property was lost, nor limb, hand or finger. People here were going  about their business as if here was not part of Lagos, on account of ensuring that Satellite town was crime free. I was bold to meet with the protesters even when other DPOs ran away. I couldn’t have run away, a captain doesn’t run and leave a ship. No DPO ran away because of these miscreants and that was why, in most cases, DPOs were the ones always killed, because they were the last to leave.

‘’What gave me the zeal and courage to stay on was, I realised that about 98 per cent people were behind me. During the crisis, different communities were all coming here to assure me that they were with me. They were coming with things to show support, to ensure that officers under me were fed, they came with a whole lot of things, food, water and what have you. There was no other way to prove that a community was behind a servant than at a time like that, to show solidarity,” Oti recounted.

It is no wonder, then, that the leaders and residents of the community, led by the Chairman, Oriade Local Government Area, Hon. Ramotalai Akinola-Hassan, are applauding him and calling for his commendation by necessary authorities.

The LGA chairperson, in an interview with this reporter, affirmed that she had never met any police officer that’s as dedicated to duty as Oti.

In her words: “During the #EndSARs, it was the people in Agboju, Kuje that surrounded him, and drove those hoodlums away. When you talk of being humble to the core, that’s Oti, there is no single time you will call him, he will not answer you.

“There is no crisis time you call him, that he won’t be on ground: he’d come with his full squad. The kind of dedication to duty, relief and confidence he has brought to Satellite Town has reduced crime in the area.

While recommending Oti for promotion to a higher rank, Akinola-Hassan urged the government to reward dedicated officers that had served with integrity not only plaques but elevation to serve as a lesson to others.

For the Chairman, Satelite Town Forum, Michael Imitini, Oti’s contributions in policing and environmental security cannot be overstated.

In his view, the DPO’s ability to carry along the grassroots, including the community development associations (CDAs) and their leaders, is worthy of note.

Imitini stated that the issue of attacks on unsuspecting public by hoodlums in the area had been brought under control, disclosing that the DPO was in touch with Okada riders who volunteered themselves to going about looking for black spots in the area.

Sariki Yaki Amuwo, who has lived in Satellite Town for over 21 years and was on ground when the DPO was transferred to the area, said: “Since his coming, the community has not had any problem without him coming to ts rescue.  It’s no longer difficult for anyone to see the DPO at the police station. People can now table their complaints to him without fear of being attacked later. Call him anytime even in the middle of the night, he would answer you and swing to action immediately.

“Life pays you back in your own coin. He’s a good team player that’s why the EndSARS destruction did not get to this place. None of the protesters attempted to get closer to him, if he was not in the good book of the people, they would have attacked him too. He doesn’t discriminate whether one is Hausa, Yoruba or Igbo, he believes everyone deserves equal attention.”

The Assistant Secretary General, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Akpuobasi Pius, urged the police of all ranks to cooperate and collaborate with the people and ensure sincere intention to live and socialise with the populace, saying that will stall a reoccurance of the #EndSARS crisis.

He said: “I feel the police should work on their human relations even as they attempt to build confidence in the people. If somebody is protecting you, at the time of need, you’d have to also come to his aid at his own time of need. That’s what really played out during the #EndSARS protests. It’s no magic, he has been part of them, and they see him as one of them, a fellow comrade, as a man they have respect for.”

Also, Chairman, Okada Riders, Close 1, Festac Town, Mohammed Ayisi, who’s also the chief security officer (CSO) for Police Volunteer in the area, praised Oti’s leadership style, saying: “Oti has brought about relative peace here among all the tribes. That’s the kind of man that takes you like his brother even when you are not the same tribe, not of the same language or religion. We are doing our business effectively because there is peace here”.

By Adeyinka Aderibigbe

How does it feel to have driven three Nigerian Presidents at different times on the nation’s railway? Abiodun Johnson Olokun is perhaps the only Nigerian in recent history, who have the record under his hat. And he may yet break it and give more Presidents a pleasurable ride, given the envisaged sustained investment on the railway sub-sector.

For Olokun however, humility will not make him take credit for the uncommon favour that destiny dropped on his laps. For him, outside being assignments that come in a day’s job, there was nothing more to it.

Once in a while however, he was usually ecstatic over the feat, and like this day, when our Correspondent met him, he reels out the feat with some relish and a tinge on his face.

Olokun never dreamt of ending his career in the centennial corporation as a locomotive driver. For starters, he had a HND in Mechanical Engineering  from Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti, and lately BSc Computer Engineering from University of Science,Commerce and Busines Administration (ESCAE) Benin. He was never employed as a locomotive driver, but was soon drafted to handle the locomotive being among the first set of Nigerians available to take over from the Chinese engineers who were handling the rehabilitation of the narrow gauge system of the nation’s railway.

At the moment, Olokun who has spent close to two decades in the NRC has become the Assistant Chief Motive Power Officer (chiefly, he operates as the Chief Driver of the Nigerian Railway) and a top trainer of locomotive drivers employed by the corporation.

Speaking on his experience on the job, Olokun said he counted it as a privilege when he was asked few years after his employment to drive the locomotive that took President Olusegun Obasanjo to inspect the Lagos-Kajola narrow gauge in 2006, during the ground-breaking of the railway modernisation from Ikeja to Kajola in Ogun State.

The lot again fell on him when they were shopping for local manpower to drive another President, and he drove President Goodluck Jonathan from Ilorin to Offa, in 2010 when the latter launched the Offa –Ilorin train service.

The launch of the Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge was the icing on the cake.

The Abuja-Kaduna was the first standard gauge line service in Nigeria. The project commenced under Jonathan with a $500 million loan secured from the China Exim Bank. When the project was completed, Buhari was on board the train from Abuja to Kaduna under the command of Mr. Johnson in the ‘cockpit.’

He said: “I feel very great performing this national task, which I see as a great task. I’m happy to have performed this because I don’t think any locomotive driver has been opportuned to pilot three different presidents at different times’’.

Olokun said he is content being a locomotive driver. He is ecstatic about the imminence of technology transfer, which would see the Chinese transfer to local manpower requisite technology and driving.

By Ozolua Uhakheme Assistant Editor (Arts)

Ekiti State Governor Dr. Kayode Fayemi has assured that the state is determined to make this year’s National Festival for Arts and Culture (NAFEST) a memorable experience.

He stated that Ekiti is the most suitable state to host such a national programme of this magnitude, adding that Ekiti State is one of the most peaceful and hospitable places in the country.

He spoke at the inauguration of the Local Organising Committee for NAFEST 2021 at the Government House, Ado Ekiti on Tuesday. Ekiti State will host the festival between November 13 and 20.

Governor Fayemi urged members of the LOC to put in their best and write their names in gold. “Justify the confidence reposed in you . There is a nexus between culture and development,” he added.

He promised members of the LOC support and urged them to discharge their duty with dedication, so that they can give a NAFEST everybody will be proud of.

Director-General National Council for Arts and Culture Otunba Segun Runsewe commended Governor Fayemi for the administrative structure being put in place, culminating in the constitution of the State LOC to  be inuagurated.

He assured that the council will work closely with the state to ensure that this year’s NAFEST will be a NAFEST with a difference.

“Looking at the theme of the festival Celebrating national unity in diversity, there is no better state and time to celebrate this diversity and strength of the Nigerian nation and her people,” he said.

Ekiti State Commissioner for Arts, Culture and Tourism Prof Rasaki Ojo Bakare described the inauguration as historic because it is the first time the LOC of a national event of this magnitude is being inaugurated in the state

He noted that in the last two years, culture and tourism sectors  of the state have witnessed great and remarkable revolution.

According to him, the right to host NAFEST this year is borne out of determination of the state to make Ekiti a beehive of social economic activities. “This is with the consciousness to stimulate tourism activities and create prosperity for our local entrepreneurs and traders. Thus further bears another testimony to the genuineness of government intention to eradicate poverty by attracting local and global investment opportunities to the state,” he said.

The ceremony witnessed the presentation of gifts by Otunba Runsewe to Governor Fayemi, his wife and Prof Bakare.

By Ozolua Uhakheme Assistant Editor (Arts)

Africa’s biggest fishing celebration, Argungu Fishing Festival in Kebbi State has remained the toast of local and foreign tourists as well as documentary artistes since it made its debut 86 years ago. But, last year’s edition of the annual festival came with a unique touch from Mr. Tolu Fatoberu, a portrait photographer who raised the bar of capturing the thrills and glitz of the event with his camera.

The 2005 graduate of Agriculture Extension and Rural Development, Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta (FUNAAB), is choice of photography buffs in northern Nigeria, particularly Kebbi State. Since he completed the mandatory one year youth service scheme 16 years ago, he has steadily sustained his childhood interest in photography.

Today, his outfit 46ten Photography, has become a household name despite growing numbers of new industry entrants as competitors.

Last year, his master piece photograph, a panoramic view of Argungu Fishing Festival in Kebbi State has drawn the attention of key players in the festival including Kebbi State and Federal governments to the direction of Fatoberu. He later presented a copy of the photograph to the Emir of Argungu.

In appreciation of his creativity, the iconic photograph was collected by the state government and presented to President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja. It was learnt that the gesture was to reproduce more copies of the image for the presidential lounge as well as for display at major airports in the country and Nigerian embassies as a documentary of our heritage.

The Osun State-born photographer with keen interest in travel and tourism documentary and lifestyle photography, has established himself as pioneer in digital photography in Kebbi State, an experience that has brought him closer to places, events and personalities in the state.

His passion for photography did not come as an accident. “I am a 2005 graduate of FUNAAB in Agriculture Extension and Rural Development. I was deployed to Kebbi in 2006 for my NYSC where I secured employment with the Chinese construction firm CGC Nigeria Limited for five years before I took up photography as a profession. I partnered Federal Government’s Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development training through the NYSC platform.

“I’m an entry level Digital Data Analyst with a little but growing knowledge in Digital Data Analysis tools like Excel, Power BI, Tableau and other collaborating tools in an agile environment. I am aspiring to become a certified Digital Product Manager.

‘’I moved from the construction firm to being an entrepreneur with various small scale businesses that I manage personally. I have also created few digital products of mine. These digital products served as test training to becoming a product owner,” he said.

Fatoberu grew up at Ibadan in Oyo State and attended the Bodija International School and renowned Loyola College, Ibadan before proceeding to Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta. He has shown keen interest in creative art as a young boy, and he affirmed that his father had always given him encouragement in his career choice.

By Ozolua Uhakheme Assistant Editor (Arts)

President, National Association of Nigerian Travel Agencies, (NANTA) Mrs Susan Akporiaye has said that in spite of the palliatives from Federal Government, the travels and tourism sector of the economy is still battling to remain afloat. She stated that COVID-19 pandemic dealt a big blow on most members of NANTA, which did not give operators the desired impact to rebase their operations.

Akporiaye, the 44th president who took over from Mr Bankole Bernard last year April, commended the Aviation Minister Hadi Sirika for his perseverance in making sure the association got the palliatives.

“We appreciate the doggedness of our Minister Hadi Sirika for his perseverance in making sure we got the palliative. It’s not news on the amount NANTA got but because of the large membership of NANTA it does not give us the desired impact to rebase our operations considering the loss we have faced the many months period and are still facing but the thought of the kind gesture by the government is what matters. We are grateful as we expect more both in cash and kind.

“The COVID-19  is very much still ravaging our business. Local challenges I will say bothers more on the issue of regulations, sanitising the industry and multi taxation my members are going through in which we are working closely with NCAA and other government establishment to address,” she said.

On what she is doing differently to reposition the association, she said: “In all my years as a technocrat in the travels and tourism industry, my exposure internationally over the years, I believe being a travel agent is a profession like any other that equally has a business side. A profession requires professionals to operate it well. Being a professional involves training & retraining, capacity building to be able to function well and the right way to be able to compete in an ever growing industry. So that’s what I am doing differently.”

Since assuming office a year ago, Akporiaye has undertaken a wide range of consultation from government to international organisations such as IATA, UFTAA, aviation and tourism stake holders and practitioners, as well as airline partners. This, she said, enables her team to appreciate the different levels of needs and expectations of the players.

To her, the last one year has been very engaging as her team has been very busy than expected, especially for the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.  According to her, during the lockdown ‘’we engaged our partners such as airlines, government agencies in a series of meaningful webinar discussions on the new normal COVID-19 brought upon us and how to forge ahead.

“We flagged off NANTA  capacity building and accreditation programme (CBAP), which is aimed at training and retraining our members on different areas of our profession in the midst of all these there was a lot of engagements with the government that brought about the palliative we received. New partnership in tourism has been established and ongoing which we will unveil very soon. It’s been a very busy one year for us,” she added.

She identified the followings as priority programmes his administration will embark upon to reposition the association. They are: To establish NANTA as a preferred travels and tourism association in Nigeria and the world, increase the level of professionalism in members that we will stand out and make a difference in the industry, create and open up channels and diverse streams of income for members, create value for travels agencies and agent members.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan used the phrase, monument of shame, in 2015 to describe the abandoned Tower Hotel project in Bayelsa State.
At the time Jonathan used the description, the project was over nine years old. It is still at the same level of abandonment to date. The permanent office complex of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) in Port Harcourt, Rivers State took 25 years to complete, writes MIKE ODIEGWU

The project was in limbo for 25 years. The circumstances that surrounded the abandoned Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) permanent headquarters were typical reflections of the leadership gap and managerial loopholes that had led to the underdevelopment of the Niger Delta. The development lends credence to the claims in some quarters that the Niger Delta people are the major cause of the problems in the region.

Minister of Niger Delta Affairs Godswill Akpabio, who coordinated the completion of the project gave embarrassing details of its abandonment.

Akpabio recalled his first visit to the project site in 2019. He said he was told that he was the only government official that had visited the project site. None of the managers of NDDC had thought of inspecting the project site much less initiating a process to complete it. It was never part of their plans.

The minister said he met the project site in a terrible condition. The land was mashy and the entire area was covered by vegetation. He could not bear the shame and he cried out to President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said:  “The road to completion of the over N16 billion NDDC office edifice started when I visited the building in 2019 and learnt that the project commenced 25 years ago in 1996.

“After the visit, I briefed President Buhari and told him that we can make the building the focal achievement in his effort to reposition NDDC.

“Immediately, President Buhari graciously approved and work commenced on the building as part of his commitment and passion to the people of Niger Delta.

“The completion and inauguration of the building shows that government can work only if it has the right determination and focus.”

Akpabio said the cost of completing the building did not include furnishing adding that he would still meet with the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to approve a contract for the furnishing of the complex.

He lambasted past administration and NDDC boards, which kept paying N300m annual rent instead of completing the complex.

He said it was also unfortunate that for over 15 years NDDC’s old office was not connected to the National Grid because there were rackets involved in diesel supply to generators..

He said: “We discovered that all that was needed to connect the building to the national grid was a mere N16 million.”

The complex is a masterpiece comprising 13-storey main office of the commission and other buildings designed to accommodate a hospital, banking hall, conference hall and restaurant.

The inauguration attracted important leaders from the region and across the country. Officials of the Federal Government, federal and state lawmakers as well as captains of industries and contractors attended the occasion.

The Interim Administrator, NDDC, Effiong Akwa, said the project suffered untold delyas, financial frustrations and technical challenges under 17 chief executive officers of NDDC before he was appointed an administrator in 2020.

He said: “In the intervening years, we have had 17 other chief executive officers before my appointment as interim administrator in the year 2020. In those intervening years, this project suffered untold delays, financial frustrations and technical challenges.

“It was a period when more projects were abandoned in Niger Delta than were completed and commissioned. It is imperative on me to humbly convey to President Muhammadu Buhari a depth of gratitude of members of the Niger Delta Development Commission and the good people of this great region.

“Mr. President has great love for the Niger Delta region. In a demonstration of remarkable political will Mr. President initiated three major policies that impacted on the speedy completion of this project. ”

The President in his virtual address said the inauguration marked an important milestone in the history of his administration’s efforts to make NDDC realise its mandate in the region. He said the building project, which started in 1996, went through series of redesigns and amendments but was later abandoned.

He, however, said his administration reactivated the project and completed it commending the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs for providing the required leadership that led to the completion of the project.

Buhari said his government embarked on holistic reforms of the NDDC, returned the supervision of the commission to the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs and ordered a forensic audit of the NDDC to ensure that money released to the commission commensurate with projects and programmes.

He said the commission should channel money it hitherto paid as rents to other productive ventures in the region.

The President ordered Akpabio to cut the tapes on his behalf and unveil the project’s plaque saying it had been handed over to the people for present and future uses.

Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, who spoke on behalf of Niger Delta governors, commended Buhari and the federal government for completing and inaugurating the project. Uzodimma said stakeholders were not satisfied with the performance of NDDC since its establishment 2000 despite receiving N946.19bn in 18 years.

Though he said nobody could write off NDDC as a total failure, the financial scandals and corruption allegations that recently rocked the commission eroded some of its achievements.

He said: “I wish to express my gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari and the federal government of Nigeria for the realisation of the headquarters of the Niger Delta Development Commission. It took so long a time for this project to come to fruition almost two decades after the commission came to being by June 5th 2000.

“The credit must go to our President who in his usual result-oriented manner had made this abandoned project a reality. This project was started and for whatever reason was abandoned for a very long time. But with the inauguration of this building, NDDC will seize to waste a staggering sum of N200m to N300m annually on rent. The money will now be channeled to other productive ventures.

“We are aware why the NDDC was born. It was a direct response of the Federal Government to the agitation of the oil-producing communities and states for the establishment of an interventionist agency that will address the degradation in the area as well as tackle the infrastructural deficit because some stakeholders felt that the 13 per cent derivation funds may not adequately take care of the needs of oil-producing communities.”

Uzodimma asked the NDDC to leverage on its new office complex to turn a new leaf in attitude, performance and general operations adding that the commission must prove to oil-bearing communities that it was ready to address its needs and fears. He said nine governors in the region were behind the government’s efforts to reposition the NDDC and make it responsive to the yearnings and aspirations of the people.

But he said: “To achieve this, will require a little tinkering with the NDDC Act. It is my view that to address the kind of contract scandal that rocked the NDDC in the past and the concomitant allegations of corruption that followed, there is need for more involvement of the people in the affairs of the commission.

“In this regard, the people should make inputs through town hall meetings thereafter NDDC should be mandated to adopt such inputs in its budget. The amended Act should make it mandatory for the commission to execute all the projects coming from the people of oil-bearing communities.

“The communities should also be empowered by law to monitor contracts awarded for projects in their communities and to certify the satisfactory executions before final payments are made. I believe that this will greatly reduce sharp practices in the execution of NDDC contracts and it will also reduce corruption.

“The suggested amendment which I call the NDDC Indigenous People Involvement Amendment Act is aimed at ensuring the participation of end users of the commission’s funds in the contract protocol to check corruption. It will go a long way in sanitising the system”.

In their goodwill messages, the King of Twon Brass, Alfred Diette-Spiff, who spoke on behalf of tradition rulers and the chairmen of the two committees on  NDDC in the National Assembly, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi and Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo commended President Buhari for the project.

While Buhari, Akpabio and Akwa, rose up to the challenge to turn the NDDC’s monument of shame into a world-class edifice, the people of Bayelsa believe that one day the abandoned Tower Hotel project will become a reality.