The Nation Newspaper

Category: Weekend Treat

  • ‘How Vir2o ‘ll redefine social media’

    ‘How Vir2o ‘ll redefine social media’

    CEO of East Coast Diversified Corporation, Kayode Aladesuyi, a US-based Nigerian, and founder of Vir2o, a new website giving a different meaning to the social media experience, loves challenges. Joe Agbro Jr., met him during the official launch of Vir2o in Lagos recently and he shares his story.

    The hall was one of expectancy as the event promised the launch of a new social media network. Hovering from one corner to the other, he quietly ensured everything was going smoothly for the press conference about to begin. He had reason to. He is Kayode Aladesuyi, the chairman of East Coast Diversified Corporation (ECDC) and founder of www.vir2o.com, the product the audience waited for.
    Call him a busy body and you won’t be wrong. In the span of his life, he had managed a restaurant, worked at construction sites, worked as an accountant, founded a telephone company, a recording studio, and three technology companies. But as he walked to the dais, spotting a branded fez cap with the vir2o logo, Aladesuyi was full of infectious energy, telling the press that Vir2o, his brand new baby, has come to bring ‘humanity to socialisation.’
    “Unlike when we were growing up when you would find a girlfriend in school or at sport or social event,” he said, “today, it all happens online. Everybody is meeting everybody online. For most women, it is a dangerous experience. You don’t know who is on the other line. You don’t know what he likes and what he doesn’t like. Vir2o solves that problem.”
    Vir2o also creates a platform to connect on a business level, allowing users and businesses to have live interaction with regards to products and services offered.
    At the launch in Lagos about three weeks Aladesuyi said he feels honoured to come back to the country after 32 years. Speaking on the motivation for vir2o, Aladesuyi said, “Facebook is great but it doesn’t take care of connectivity that you have in an extended family situation. It doesn’t actually add socialisation to social media. In the US, it is referred to as a poster board where people go online to post information.”
    So three years ago, he sounded his then 16-year old daughter on what she thought of Facebook. Her verdict according to him was that “Facebook is boring.” “The moment she told me that,” he said, “the light bells went off in my head.” Recognising an opportunity, Aladesuyi said, “I got my engineers and my creative team together and we started to study social media to understand what exactly is there about social media that is exciting to people.”
    And www.vir2o.com, a website that puts chat, photos, music, games, videos, and a marketplace, together on one platform, was birthed. While vir2o has some common features with facebook and google+, it distinguishes itself with nVite, a session sharing technology patented by Aladesuyi, which allows users to share media contents such as videos and photos with their friends or family in real-time. This enabled friends and family to for instance, watch a movie or go shopping together, despite differences in locations. Also on the website is facility for live chat, Vmovies, and VBroadcast, which enables streaming of live events, such as concerts and religious services.
    Speaking further, he said, “today, what I’ve been able to do is for someone on vir2o to be able to tell a friend and say join me, let’s watch a movie together, regardless of where that person is – whether you are in China or in Mexico.”
    And, the sharing experience which is due to nVite, a session sharing technology patented by Aladesuyi also enables connected people on the platform to shop together. “About 68% of relationships today are formed online,” Aladesuyi said, as he hopes that with vir2o, the word virtual become realer.
    Aladesuyi is also interested in getting “black people to code (computer programming)” and says Nigerian software developers now have a platform on which they can develop locally-relevant applications. “Even in the US, we are lacking when it comes to technical education,” he said. “You won’t find a single app developed by an African on facebook. It’s not because we can’t do it. It’s because we don’t have the platform.”
    But in a market swelling with a plethora of social media sites, what convinces him that Vir2o can fly, I ask. “Inspiration and business,” he swiftly replies. Being an African-American, a Nigerian in the field of technology by its very nature is challenging. I love to be challenged.
    So far, vir2o has about 20,000 users globally but it is poised for growth. To push this, Aladesuyi has set about one million dollars. And following its launch, users have an opportunity to win $5,000 by uploading a creative video on the website.
    Born on May 21, 1960 in Lagos, to Mr. and Mrs. Adedeji and Kikelomo Aladesuyi (nee Benson), Aladesuyi grew up on the Island and Mainland of Lagos at various times. In 1982, he went to the American University in Watford, England but transferred in 1983 to the US, bagging a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Alabama in 1986.
    Immediately upon graduation from college Mr. Aladesuyi’s interest to practice as an accountant was immediately dashed when a head hunter advised him to change his name if he wanted to secure interviews.”
    Aladesuyi didn’t adopt an English name and decided to be entrepreneurial. He paid a professor to teach him digital accounting. And with the knowledge of several accounting packages, the young Nigerian started Associated Management and Financial Services Group, his first business in the US, in March 1986. It was a bookkeeping and tax services for small businesses. He provided financial and accounting services to many businesses and individuals, representing companies such as Metropolitan Life, Prudential and New York Life insurance companies.
    Though, with an academic background and early career steeped in accounting and administration, Aladesuyi as CEO of ECDC runs three technology companies. How did it happen?
    “My transition (to technology),” he said, “began when accounting started to move from paper accounting to digital accounting.”
    And by the early 90’s when Atlanta was becoming a major music market, Aladesuyi created Loud Entertainment Group, a production studio, and Vision Records, an artist development company.
    And when the United States decided to break up AT&T’ and the Baby Bells’ monopoly in providing local phone services across the country, Aladesuyi took advantage of the opportunity and started Planet Link, the first African American telephone company in America in 1996. “I was like a child in candy store basically. So, to compete with the Baby Bell, I partnered with Dish network, which was major cable service provider in North America. I was able to compete by combining cable service and my own telephone service. I ran that business up until 2002. In 2002, the company was taken public.”
    Black Enterprise Magazine ran a story on him as one of few African Americans to run a publicly traded entity.
    In September of 2003, Mr. Aladesuyi resigned from PlanetLink Communication to start EarthSearch Communications. Doing business with Dish and researching on satellite, Aladesuyi found out that President Bill Clinton had signed a declaration allowing commercialisation of GPS technology. Studying GPS technology fascinated him. “To me, it was a technology that broke down all boundaries. ”
    In 2004, he set up Earthsearch Communications in Brazil where in conjunction with engineers to build his first technology product, AutoSearch GPS, a GPS tracking device.
    When FBI reports showed that more than $40 billion worth of goods were stolen each year while vehicles were on the highway in the US and even more in Europe and globally, Aladesuyi took it as a challenge, one which he solved by creating the first wireless communication protocol between GPS and RFID. This technology, which he owns the patent for has been transferred into many industries including security. And a local beneficiary is Halogen Security.
    In 2008, after 25 years of living abroad, he returned to Nigeria for the first time. He brought along with him a GPS navigation product called Roadnut. The concept of a navigation device was novel in Nigeria then. “We used a local company to get us the street map of Nigeria,” he said. But we quickly found out that it was not going to work. The roads were not properly numbered, there was not enough detail. But, just the idea was exciting.”
    But, there are still big plans in the offing as Aladesuyi said “he intends using vir2o to demonstrate to the world that Nigeria is a virile market. That Nigeria can be a catalyst to investors who want to invest in Nigeria. If vir2o can take on facebook, I can say vir2o took on facebook because Nigerians support vir2o. It is a powerful statement to make in the business circle in US. We are ceding Nigeria to the Chinese. It is something that concerns me.”
    Aladesuyi is married to Andrea Sousa, his second wife, who he met in Brazil in the course of expanding his business. He had earlier married Valerie Wells a native of Alabama that he met in college. Though, his works take him to India, China, Brazil, and other parts of the world, away from his wife and five children, whenever he can, he said he loves spending time with his family. “I also love to play golf too.”

  • The rise of Soji Bello

    The rise of Soji Bello

    Soji Bello is one of the hottest socialites currently making waves in the South West. The ex-banker now resides in Akure and has become one of the biggest contractors in the Sunshine State. That Soji is one of the richest young men in Nigeria is like stating the obvious. With a garage that boasts of numerous state-of-the-art cars of different shapes, sizes and colours, Soji powers around town in the in the fleet.
    Celeb Watch findings revealed that Soji is not just a hard rocker he also wields a lot of influence in the corridors of power. Legendary and long-standing is his friendship with the incumbent governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko. Their friendship reportedly dates back to the early 1980s when the politics of that era brought them together. They have since remained inseparable like conjoined twins.
    Soji’s friendship with the governor is said to be legendary and comes with its perks.

  • How being sociable can boost your brain

    How being sociable can boost your brain

    A study has shown that bits of the brain are bigger and better connected in people who have lots of friends.

    And the more sociable they are, the bigger the brain boost.

    The finding comes from Oxford University scientists who asked 18 men and women how many friends they had met, spoken to on the phone or emailed in the past month.

    The average number of friends contacted was around 20 but some were in touch with more than 40 people. Others only made contact with ten pals.

    Scans showed that around half a dozen brain regions were bigger in those who were more sociable – and the more friends someone had, the larger the areas were.

    One of the sociability regions was the anterior cingulate cortex, an area we use to keep track of what other people are doing.

    The scans showed that connections between this area and another that we use to work out how others are thinking and feeling were particularly strong in sociable types.

    The Society for Neuroscience’s annual conference also heard that there were strong connections between the various areas involved in sociability.

    Researcher MaryAnn Noonan said: ‘In more sociable humans, perhaps these communication pathways are more like motorways than windy country roads, making information processing more efficient and better.’

    With earlier work in monkeys producing similar results, the researchers think it is not the case that sociable people are simply born with brains that are better wired for friendship.

    Instead, they believe that people with lots of friends use certain brain regions more often, leading to them growing to keep up with the social demands.

    Dr Noonan said: ‘If I hedged my bets, I’d say the brain is changing in response to social network size.

    ‘But that is not to say that there isn’t a genetic influence, so that if you come from a sociable family, your brain is predisposed to that.’

    It is hoped that learning more about how the brain reacts in social situations could lead to new treatments for autism, schizophrenia and other conditions in which people struggle to interact with others.

    However, sociable types should note that the finding doesn’t mean that they have bigger brains overall.

    It is thought that other brain regions, which aren’t used when they are out socialising, shrink in compensation.

     

    Called from Daily Mail

  • The mistress (2)

    The mistress (2)

    I stared warily at Frank’s visibly angry wife, mentally preparing myself for a ‘battle royale’. But the woman ignored me, instead focusing all her anger on her husband.

    “Frank, is that all you can say? I catch you in the act with your girlfriend and you say I’m disturbing you? The last time I checked, I’m still your wife and we are still married! As your wife, I cannot put up this!”

    “Well, you know what to do if you can’t cope with the situation. Just get out! And leave me alone!”

    To that, she retorted:

    “I should leave you alone, abi? So, you can have the freedom to go around carrying anything in skirts! Well, I’m going nowhere! I’m your wife, the mother of your only child! You can’t kick me out! Never!” No way….!”

    Frank, who seemed to be getting more worked up by the minute, fired back at her and soon, a full-blown quarrel ensured.

    As the quarrel between the two intensified, I quietly left Frank’s lap and picking up my bag, headed for the door. But the woman, sighting me, blocked my path.

    “And you, where do you think you are going? Stay o! Since we are now mates and are sharing the same man! Stay so I can tell you what this man really is- a chronic womaniser! You are feeling cool now because you think he loves you. Well, listen up girl! He will only use you and dump you like he did to all the others! You think you are the first mistress he has kept? I feel sorry for you! I will advice you to go and look for your own man and leave my husband alone. Little bitch! Ashawo! Husband snatcher!” she screamed at me. She continued to rant and pour more invectives on me, ignoring Frank’s words to her ‘to shut the hell up!’

    I did not reply her and at last, I succeeded in getting away from her and left the office hurriedly. It was not that I could not withstand her if it came to a verbal or physical combat that I left. I just did not want to create any scene that would embarrass my Frank. So, I let ‘sleeping dogs lie’ and went my way.

    Later that evening, Frank came to see me at my workplace. He was full of apologies about his wife’s behaviour, assuring me that there would never be a repeat of the incident.

    “You see why I don’t like going home? She’s so quarrelsome and aggressive, always spoiling for a fight,” he grumbled as we sat in his car outside the hospital gate.

    Turning to me, he took my hand in his and said:

    “One of the things I like about you is that you are so cool and calm. Some other girls would have stayed and fought with her! But you walked away. Thanks, love,” he stated, kissing me on the cheek.

    It was on our next date that he told me about his wife and the state of his marriage.

    “We are having serious problems in our home right now,” he said. The problem, he explained had to do with her inability to have more children.

    “Sometime ago, she had a serious health problem and her womb had to be removed. Now, I want more children especially sons and she can’t give me that. It’s really frustrating!”

    I sympathised with him, stating:

    “I’m really sorry to hear that,” I said with some sincerity.

    “Thanks, sweetheart,” he replied.

    Sometime later, he said something that really surprised me:

    “I love you Nicole and I want you in my life. Always. As soon as you get pregnant, I will marry you,” he promised. I was really taken aback by his proposal. I knew Frank loved me but not to the extent of marrying me. And what about his wife of eight years, I wondered. What was he going to do about her? I was not too keen on being a second wife and knowing my parents, especially my mum, they would not be in support as well.

    But Frank allayed my fears saying:

    “Don’t worry about my wife. I will take care of it. So, leave it to me. Just give me a child, especially a son and you will see what I will do for you.”

     

    Baby news

    I believed and trusted Frank and based on that and the love I had for him, I decided to give him what he wanted. I got pregnant about three months later and when I broke the news to Frank, he was so happy, he was like a man who had won the lottery!

    “Wow!” That’s great news!” he stated excitedly. He immediately began making plans for my delivery which he insisted must be outside the country.

    “I don’t trust our hospitals. Nothing must happen to my boy. So, you will be going to the U.K for the birth later,” he declared as he fondly caressed my tummy.

    “Boy? What makes you think it’s a boy? I’ve not even done a scan!” I said, smiling.

    “Who needs a scan? From the shape of your tummy I can tell its a boy,” he said. I laughed, feeling happy at the way things had turned out.

    My joy at my baby news was however short lived. When I broke the news to my parents that I was expecting Frank’s child, the reaction was not good. My mother expectedly, hit the roof at the news.

    “Pregnant you say? You see yourself? So, that’s how you will end up, as a second wife! I warned you but you would not listen. Stupid girl!” she stated angrily.

    As for my father, all he was concerned about was that Frank should do the right thing by paying my dowry.

    “Dowry ke!” my mother countered. “That’s all you are interested in- money! Go ahead! Marry her off to Frank because he is rich! Just count me out of this! I’m not a party to this nonsense,” she said, fuming…

     

    •What next? Join us next Saturday for the rest of Nicole’s story

     

    •Names have been changed to protect Nichole’s identity and other individuals in the story

    •Send comments/suggestions to psaduwa@yahoo.com, psaduwa007@gmail.com or 08023201831

     

  • AMAZING – How Americans now crave Yoruba language

    AMAZING – How Americans now crave Yoruba language

    The language is studied in 47 American varsities, says UI don

    While there is no incentive for the promotion of Yoruba language and more and more native speakers of the language are losing their native tongues, American government and its citizens are ironically spending huge resources and time to gain both fluency and immersion in the languages and cultures which the natives are ditching. Assistant Editor ADEKUNLE YUSUF reports.

    IT was early in the day, but the young lads were already thirsty to sip from an array of the menu that formed the business of the day. From the exultant mood boldly etched on their faces, it is obvious that they had all kept the date jealously in their diaries. They were all tenth graders, drawn from public schools in Dane Country, Madison, Wisconsin, United States (US), all eager to gain from a week-long event to make them more knowledgeable about other cultures. That was July 28, 2011, and the event, a yearly ritual, was to let students have a sip of the languages, foods and cultures of the Yoruba, Swahili, Chinese, French and Russian. This reporter, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) at the time, who was recruited to lead the enthusiastic teenagers on a walk through the fringes of Yoruba cultural mores and folklores, was filled with amazement by the time the curtain was drawn, as these American kids were happily reciting some Yoruba folkloric songs, which some of them recorded to enrich their mementoes.

    The above event is not by happenstance. Every summer, it is the ritual for the Language Institute at the UW-Madison to assemble some select American pupils with the aim of introducing them to other cultures and concomitant educational utility therein. Although the essence of the weeklong summer carnival is to catch them young as far as deepening the interest of impressionable Americans in cultures and languages from other climes is concerned, at more formal levels, there are plans specifically designed to give impetus to students who wish to further explore their curiosity in the study of African languages, especially Yoruba.

    Luckily, many of those pupils who have sipped from the summer initiative do later move up in life to enroll in undergraduate programmes in universities in the states and its environs. Thanks to the requirement that makes every American college undergraduate to gain proficiency in at least one international language (second language) before being certified worthy in learning and character; there exists a cooperative agreement between the University of Ibadan (UI), Oyo State, and the American Council for International Education (ACIE), Washington DC, US. Enacted in 2009, the agreement is planned to give fillip to the desire of American students who wish to pursue their interest in other cultures another notch, especially in Yoruba language and culture. And the product of that agreement is the Yoruba Language Flagship Programme (YLFP), which gave birth to the Yoruba Language Centre (YLC), operating since 2010 as a non-degree awarding unit at the University of Ibadan.

    So, every year, American students travel down to the University of Ibadan for immersion in Yoruba language and culture, made possible by the exchange programme.

    Essentially, the YLC renders services in Yoruba language acquisition and capacity building, among other things. It achieves this by running a specialised summer, semester, and academic programme of study in Yoruba language and culture for both undergraduate and graduate students from American universities, training them in Yoruba from the novice to superior level of proficiency, with emphasis on interpersonal communication skills- speaking, reading, listening and writing. That is where the good tiding lies; for some of YLC’s alumni, after gaining proficiency in Yoruba language, are now literally stealing headlines anywhere they go. Kevin Barry, otherwise known as Kayode Oyinbo, is one of such new enthusiasts of Yoruba language and culture. So is Cara Harshman, known as Titilayo Oyinbo.

    The duet, who derive their Nigerian nicknames because of their uncanny ability to speak the Yoruba language without code-switching, are so proficient and fluent in Yoruba that a conversation with any of them is bound to leave many a native speaker green with envy. And all the immersion in the language is through their participation in the exchange programme at the University of Ibadan in 2010, aided of course, by previous course offering in the language at the U-Madison, their alma mater.

    Currently, 10 students from first-rate American universities are completing the Yoruba studies at the University of Ibadan. But of the five Americans that benefited from the exchange programme when it started three years ago, Kayode, who plays the African talking drum and bata, has become a Yoruba language ambassador who is enjoying a rising profile, having visited Nigeria a number of times since then. On June 19 this year, Kayode took members of the Lagos State House of Assembly and guests by surprise when he addressed them in undiluted Yoruba, urging them to ensure that legislative business is conducted in Yoruba, not English.

    Anytime the young American jets into the country, he hobnobs with Nigerian celebrities and top-notch politicians. Recently, he played one of the lead roles in You or I, a film by ace actor and producer Saidi Balogun film, which takes a look at marriage from the perspectives of what makes or mars it. The cast of You or I is entirely Caucasian, with the exception of Balogun. Aside Barry (Kayode), other Caucasians in the film are Elizabeth Croydon and Shira Oyive.

    Like Kayode, Titilayo is another passionate Yoruba language enthusiast. Anytime any opportunity presents itself, she encourages native speakers not to ditch their language. In her productions, some of which are posted on YouTube, she constantly uses her journalistic skill to condemn the code-switching that has become the order of the day among Yoruba native speakers who live in the city.

    Titilayo, in an article entitled ‘The beginning of the end’, said: “As the fateful day the Oyinbos will leave Nigeria draws nearer and nearer, the number of send forth parties gets higher and higher. Our Yoruba Flagship Center hosted a party for us on Wednesday. The party was a typical Yoruba function with a high table with distinguished guests, lots of prayers and people who spoke on forever about the importance of speaking Yoruba. Kayode and I gave short speeches in Yoruba and the five of us even sang a song that went : O digba, O dabo; Ki Olorin sho pade o; Ka rira pe layo; Ka maa ma sunkun ara wa.

    “An incredible cultural troupe from Ibadan performed astonishing bata dances and Kayode joined in with his own Yoruba drums. People told us a local television station broadcast the party on TV but unfortunately-like all of my prior television appearances here- I never catch them.

    “The send forth parties still continue in a non-formal setting with us and our Nigerian friends. Saying goodbye is a long process here because I am bombarded with questions from random people such as: ‘Will you take me back to your country with you?’ ‘When are you coming back?’ The prior question I get almost everyday. I have started giving responses like ‘No, because I am not a customs official and cannot give you a visa,’ or ‘I can take you if you can fit in my luggage.’ And to the latter question, I simply say ‘Mi i ni pe’/‘I will not be long’.”

    Another Occidental boost for Yoruba language is from the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Through an initiative called Foreign Language Teaching Assistants, young speakers of Yoruba and Hausa languages who have educational background in English or language arts are recruited as teaching assistants to teach their languages and cultures to American students in the US universities and colleges. Olugboyega Adebanjo, lead translator, XML Language Services Limited, says this is a testimony to the immense value of Nigerian languages as veritable export commodities.

    “If there are no Nigerian goods to be exported, and there are no Nigerian innovations to sell to the world, our languages and cultures can be our economic exchange with the Occident and the Orient,” he added.

    Over the years, scores of young but talented Nigerians have used this scheme as springboard for greater educational achievements, serving as teaching assistants and all the concomitant benefits of tuition waiver and so on that come with it to climb higher education ladders.

    One of them is Kazeem Kehinde Sanuth, who left Nigeria some years ago to teach Yoruba language and culture. Now a doctoral student in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) at the UW-Madison, Kazeem still teaches Yoruba every summer at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Asked about the prospects awaiting the Yoruba language, he enthuses that the sky is not even the limit, adding that Americans will always value the richness and cultural values imbued in the language.

    Besides recruiting young minds to teach the language, Yoruba, among over 2,000 African languages, is one of the most widely learnt as a second language in Europe and America. The long list of top American universities and colleges that run ambitious, full-fledged programme in Yoruba language and culture include: Harvard University, Stanford University, Cornel University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Massachusetts, Indiana University in Bloomington, Ohio State University, Michigan State University, Ohio University, University of California at Berkeley, University of California at Los Angeles, University of Florida, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Howard University, Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, among others.

    Ironically, as Yoruba language is winning converts in droves abroad, its native speakers are fast ditching it. As if speaking in mother tongue is a plague that needs to be avoided, many parents have stopped talking to their children and wards in their mother tongue, ignorantly believing that it is both primitive and uncivilised for their children not to be able to speak good English, thus allowing the language to rank in the category of endangered languages compiled by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). And going by the findings of a survey conducted two years ago in Nigeria’s six geo-political zones by a team of linguists led by Prof. Ahmed Amfani, more and more Nigerian parents are not handing over their languages to their children, for an average of 25 percent of Nigerian children of nursery and primary school ages do not speak their parents’ languages.

    To worsen the situation, a recent directive from the National Education Research Council (NERC) is like an arrow that further pierced into the heart of indigenous languages, including Yoruba. In 2012, NERC, citing the need to drastically reduce the number of subjects students offer, ruled that indigenous languages should be removed from the list of compulsory subjects offered at the secondary school level. This, says Prof. Akinwumi Isola, poses a serious challenge for the continued survival of the mother tongue in the Nigerian schools.

    Does the trend signal the near demise of Yoruba language? Not all experts share such pessimism. While insisting that Yoruba language will not die, Prof. Kola Owolabi of the University of Ibadan concludes that the language will only relocate abroad.

    “Let us analyse the way the language is being taught and learnt in Nigeria and United States. I was told reliably that American universities studying Yoruba are up to 47. Now let us come to Yoruba land. How many federal institutions in Yoruba land are studying Yoruba as a subject? And if they are studying Yoruba as a subject, how many students do they have there? How many private universities in Yoruba land are studying Yoruba as a subject? So, you can see that the language is getting relocated to that place, whereas people here don’t pay attention to it at all. Yoruba language is dying daily because everybody is learning how to speak English. People abroad are concentrating on how to speak your language for you. So, the language will not die. In the next 50 to 100 years, those who speak the language natively will have gone, may be it may be limited to the countryside. By that time, Yoruba language will have been so entrenched in the US such that in 50 to 100 years’ time, it will have become a household study there,” he said.

    Sadly, the import of this trend is that Americans will have gained so much fluency and mastery of Yoruba language that they will not just be communicating in it, they will also be sending experts to train and teach the natives what is supposedly their mother tongue!

  • Designers abroad can’t sew better than us; their only advantage over us is modern tools-Tailors & fashion designers association chief

    Designers abroad can’t sew better than us; their only advantage over us is modern tools-Tailors & fashion designers association chief

    In this interview with PAUL UKPABIO, Chief Tajudeen Ogundele, the First Vice-President of the Lagos State Tailors and Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (LASTFADAN) speaks on his mission for the association and the fashion world.

    You are the incumbent first Vice-President of LASTFADAN, why do you seek to be President?

    Leadership is about selfless service. I have served the association in many capacities in the past, starting as a branch chairman, Governor General of Professional Tailors and Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria in Agege Local Government before I moved to the state level. PTFDAN merged with several fashion associations to form LASTFADAN in response to the Lagos State government’s directive. I am now the First Vice-President of LASTFADAN and by God’s grace hope to become the president at the forthcoming election. We are very happy with the success so far. I have worked with other executives of this association day and night to build this enduring union with over 50,000 members in Lagos.

    Being the only recognised fashion association by the government of Lagos State; we strive daily to better the lot of our members. It will be my happiness if the association assumes a national status. My desire is to lead our ever conscious members to make our association great by building on existing gains achieved through our collective efforts. I know together we can lead our association to the promised land that will be the envy of others God’s willing. This I believe will strengthen the hope and our collective aspiration for the future prosperity of the association.

    Your association is fast growing, how do you intend to ensure free flow of communication to members?

    First and foremost, if elected, I would establish an excellent rapport among the leaders of the Amalgamated Tailoring Association and the Trustee Elders with the Local Government executive. No man is an island. You need the knowledge and contribution of everybody in the day to day running of the association. One needs to carry everybody along. There is strong need to bridge the communication gap within the branches chairmen and their leaders, improve cooperation with the local governments and also to support them in their activities that will aid development and progress in LASTFADAN. We also have to generate funds towards our own secretariat and similarly to make a very good welfare package for our past leaders and elders. You cannot ignore the past contributions of leaders and elders. This is what will make those in power to strive towards efforts that will bring economic development to all members because they know their efforts will not be in vain after leaving the office.

    How do you think your association’s effort can add to the economic development of Lagos?

    Under my leadership, there will be conscious efforts to improve on the collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry of Commerce and Industry, including all other relevant agencies of government. I commend the Lagos State government for its interest in the association. The government has provided us with a Vocational Education and Training Centre. With a population of not less than 50,000 members, the government has accepted us as stakeholders in the Lagos project. We are very grateful. Whatever progress that comes to our members will impact positively on the economy of the state. I believe if branding is introduced into our work, it will attract the young educated ones who can easily combine their level of education with skills acquired to promote the image of our country. I know there are so many agencies of government doing this but with the support of experienced practitioners, I believe our fashion world can change a great deal. There are so many designers abroad; they can’t sew better than us. The only advantage they have is that they have modern tools which improve their finishing. We have members who travel abroad and are exposed. So we know all these. What we require is institutional support and capacity; a continuous empowerment scheme to make our job neater and perfect. This ultimately will uplift the living standard of our members. And the Lagos State government has set the pace.

    With a population of not less than 50,000, your association is a big one. Won’t it be difficult to manage them?

    Our members are well exposed and mature. So they are not people you can push around. To lead them, you must have a clear vision and direction. You also need to enhance unity, transparency, accountability, prudence and sincerity among members. A good leader must promote cordial relationship among all members of the various organs of the association for general interests. To achieve this, he must maintain law and order by following laid down rules and regulations. The key to the success of a president as a true leader is to have a listening hear and always subject himself to corrections at all time. Marthin Luther King said: ‘He that lacks decision lacks true vision’. It is therefore incumbent on the president to take good decisions for the progress and development of the association.

    With the level of education of some of your members, how does it feel when people call you locals?

    It is ridiculous referring to fashion designers as local tailors when we have master’s degree holders in our folds appearing in runways all over the country. I can remember when the then Governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, under the Unity Party of Nigeria, introduced free education in primary and secondary schools in the Second Republic. Our members then did not have enough apprentices as parents were sending their children to schools. I took it upon myself to educate several of our members on the importance of that education policy. I told them it would enhance the industry as people would learn faster and be more creative after graduation. We all can see the importance of education in the industry today. I advise our members to seek more education and training to ensure they can compete with their counterparts anywhere in the world. This is why we have always told those referring to our members as ‘local’ to leave their uninformed zone. Things have changed a great deal today. Many of our members are highly educated; this has translated to high quality designs. Our members design for high flyers in the society today.

  • Timi Alaibe shuts down late wife’s business

    Timi Alaibe shuts down late wife’s business

    Former boss of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Timi Alaibe, has shut down the business of his late wife, Alaiere Alaibe, bringing the era of the once a flourishing business to an end. Until her death, the late Alaiere ran a multi-million naira beauty shop called Pretty Woman on Toyin Street, Ikeja, Lagos.

    Many people had expected the business to wind up as soon as Alaiere died in 2009, but her husband reasoned that closing down the business would amount to erasing the legacy of enterprise for which Alaiere was known. He left the business to run and appointed someone to manage it.

    According to an inside source, the business started experiencing financial troubles just a year after the transfer of its management. Timi was said to have come up with the idea of selling the business at the time because he was too busy to oversee it, but the late wife’s family and friends appealed to him to keep it open. They told him that the financial troubles experienced by the business would abate in a few months when the new handler would have got used to it.

    But year after year, Pretty Woman became an ugly shadow of its old self. The place became deserted and the equipment began to rot. Timi could not take it anymore and decided to close down the business once and for all. The building now houses a branch of Enterprise Bank.

  • Low-key 70th birthday for Ndubuisi Kanu

    Low-key 70th birthday for Ndubuisi Kanu

    How do you know the quintessential gentleman? One of the ways is to check and analyse his lifestyle, family, friends and associates as well as the kind of people he surrounds himself with. Those are some of the yardsticks that have distinguished Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu.

    It was payback time for the former military administrator of Lagos State as family and friends rallied around him last Sunday to make his 70th birthday a memorable one. He marked the day with a family harvest and birthday thanksgiving at the Methodist Cathedral, Tinubu Square, Lagos. This was later followed with a breakfast.

    His wife, Gladys, was in her elements, radiating beauty.

  • ‘Nigerians should embrace alternative building methods’

    ‘Nigerians should embrace alternative building methods’

    Otunba Dele Ajayi Smith is Chairman/Chief Executive, Hammersmith Projects Solutions Limited. Smith, who is a member, Membership Committee of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, believes that accommodation should be the least of the problems of Nigerians. In this interview with Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf, he talks about alternative building methods and how to avert building hazards in Nigeria

    It is very difficult for an average Nigerian to build a house because of the continuous rise in the price of building materials, especially cement, in fact government has asked Nigerians to look for alternative ways of building houses. What is the way out?

    I think Nigerians should deemphasise the use of cement. I would suggest what is called monolithic dome housing. For centuries, Nigerians know one simple housing system, the one made of cement, sand and stones; the nearest alternative are the burnt bricks used in the same conventional four square style. Monolithic dome housing is unique in several senses; dome is a house that has several features, a house that can survive most natural and manmade disasters: tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, fires bullets, rot, mold and termites. Of course you will likely argue that we do not have most of those natural disasters in our country, that we do not have hurricanes, that we do not have incidences of earthquakes, of course we do have powerful flooding, violent storms and winds and, we do constantly have incidences of those manmade disasters, we do have great insecurity which could lead to severe stray bullets and so many other related negative occurrences.

    This new technology stands against all these natural and manmade disasters, it is a unique housing system; it is the safest house in the world. Monolithic Dome is so beautiful; it can be decorated from both inside and outside. It is really fantastic, so when I saw this building personally and slept inside it for days, I was very excited, I appreciated it because I have been involved in the industrial insulation technology for many years, for over three decades, so when I saw the Dome House, it was very attractive because it is a combination of industrial insulation and also the features of conventional building technology I am used to. So putting these two technologies together, we were sure it is going to be something absolutely NEW! For our climate also and, the fact of the growing climate change and its consequences, especially, it is more serious with us in Africa because we do not have solid safety-net against disasters.

    The beauty of a Dome House is that when you build the usual conventional house here. You are only thinking about this house lasting some decades, in the case of Monolithic Dome, you must be thinking of several centuries. Take for instance that the Rome’s Pantheon Dome built in 126 A. D. is still there in use and remains strong. So many Dome houses that I personally visited in the US are all looking good as new even though some are 30 years old, you won’t see any sign of stress on any of the Dome houses, but most houses that are conventional, the maintenance costs are even so high to keep them strong or else dilapidation sets in.

    The cost of a Dome House is about the same cost with that of our known conventional buildings and for our Ecoshell Dome, it could be 10 to 25 percent cheaper than the cost of conventional building and by the time you put all other things into consideration; the period of construction which is faster with the Dome House and, then with the fact that maintenance cost is almost 50 per cent cheaper after the construction, especially when you consider energy savings.

    When you talk about dome, what readily comes to mind is something ancient, how relevant is it for the modern day?

    No, the kind of dome we are talking about comes in different shapes and forms of designs, they are beautiful than the old mud dome you use to see in the northern part of Nigeria. I am talking about modern day Domes; they are classical and beautiful, more than any conventional buildings both internally and externally. They are really beautiful and, when you consider some of the areas our people sink their hard-earned hundreds of millions of naira in constructing their homes like all the Lekki axis, the best form of building structures that will not make them lose their investment or their sleeps are the Dome houses and, Dome house can go up to 25 storeys or levels so that there is nothing you need you don’t get from a Dome building. We have all forms of designs you can build a beautiful bungalow, single or two storey building, you can build multiple storey building, up to 25- storey building, it is a building for all seasons.

    Take a look at those conventional buildings along Ahmadu Bello Way on Victoria Island in Lagos directly facing the Atlantic ocean, almost all the tenants have run away several years back, they can’t live there any longer and those are huge investments, if they were Dome structures, they will have no problems, they will remain there, they will remain good neigbbours to the Atlantic ocean, nothing to drive them away from that neighbourhood.

    When you now look at those structures you have along Lekki Phase I, Phase II, and all those other estates directly behind the Atlantic Ocean, their best built are the Dome houses because they will have no problems at all times. When you think places like Abuja, of course, they are on solid ground, but the growing climate change doesn’t promise anyone anywhere of a sure safety or good tidings, anything could happen at any time.

    If you know the psyche of Nigerians, anytime they want to do something, they think about the cost implication, how affordable is this to an average Nigerian?

    It is very affordable. It is cheaper for the low income-earner to maintain than maintaining the old conventional house. That is why you see many of our houses; they get easily deteriorated because of what it must cost to maintain them. The only disadvantage that the Monolithic Dome will have on the low income-earners is that of raising their sense of beauty, consciousness and good standard of living.

    If you look at most of our universities, most of them are not residential, how useful can this monolithic houses help in accommodating the students?

    You’re very right, take for instance, Olabisi Onabanjo University, (OOU) is a 30-year-old institution and they don’t have hostel for their students, they have population of over 14,000 students new students of about 6,000 enter into the university every year and they have to scramble for local accommodation all around those cities within the proximity of the institution, some of these students have to live several miles away from their campuses, yet they don’t have comfortable places to live, coupled with incompatible culture with the local people which often leads to chaos. We have just introduced Echoshell Dome to the university. Dome will prevent man-made disaster that often occurs where a multitude lives. We have introduced the alternative building technology to the university and, the institution is very excited and wishes to be the first university to adopt the alternative building technology.

    If you recall, early this year, the federal government beginning to advocate for alternative building technology, the president specifically mentioned it, some of the state governors also talked about huge cost of building a house. Cement is expensive, but the truth is that cement accounts for less than 15 per cent of all the building materials. Cement is not really the major cost in a building process, you are going to talk about planks to do so many things in a structure.

    When you see various designs of Dome houses, you will see that they are better than conventional homes, they are more easily decorated, when you see many of these designs you will be so happy, you can tailor your decoration so well that you do it at a very lowest cost.

    Apart from housing sector, the Domes are best for banking hall, especially these days with security challenges, Domes are so appropriate for banking hall all over the country especially when you consider the bullet proof feature, the safety of numbers of customers usually within the banking hall, etc.

  • Rotimi Ajanaku throws lavish party for child’s dedication

    Rotimi Ajanaku throws lavish party for child’s dedication

    For some time now, Otunba Rotimi Ajanaku has been out of the social radar. But those who should know informed Celeb Watch that he has been away in New York, the United States of America, to stay with his wife, Oyinlola, who was delivered of a baby boy about two months ago at Richmond University Medical Centre, New York.

    Two Sundays ago, precisely on October 27, he rolled out the drums to celebrate the dedication of the new baby. The Lagos socialite threw a lavish party at his sprawling Lekki, Lagos mansion. The new baby was named Oluwaferanmi Solomon. Top socialites attended the high-octane party.