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The fourth edition of Worship for Change’s Green Worship with the theme More With You holds on Saturday by 5pm. It is a benefit concert organised to raise awareness and support for indigent children, orphans and children with special needs.

The event, which will be held virtually, is expected to feature artistes such as Matt Redman, Nathaniel Bassey, Noel Robinson, Efe Nathan, Laolu Gbenjo and Wale Adenuga. Others are Folabi Nuel, Evans Ogboi, Purist Ogboi, Femi Okunuga, Ore Macaulay, David Omodunmiju and Angeloh.

The beneficiaries of this year’s benefit concert are Leprosy Mission Nigeria, The Farid Centre, Minna, Irede Foundation and Godswill Orphanage, Ayingba. The organisers of the event hopes to raise N100 million.

According to the Chief Responsibility Officer, Worship For Change, Mr. Wale Adenuga the organisation presented N7.5m from proceeds gotten from the Green Worship 3.0 concert to 6 charities who care for vulnerable children and children with special needs. The cheque presentation took place on Thursday, February 25, 2021, in Lagos. The last edition, which was also held virtually on Saturday, September 19, 2020, had the amazing performances by renowned Gospel artists such as Michael W. Smith, Matt Redman, Nathaniel Bassey, Tim Hughes, Wale Adenuga, Dunsin Oyekan, Paul Baloche, Martin Smith, Glowreyah Braimah, Freke Umoh and Gbenga Adenuga.

The benefiting charities were Jakin NGO, Leprosy Mission Nigeria, Moyinoluwa Rainbow Foundation, Ikorodu sickle cell club, Daughters of Charity St. Vincent de Paul, Abuja and Magnificient Therapy Services. The donations were presented to them by Pastor Emeka Ndu, a representative of the trustees of Worship for Change.

 

By Ozolua Uhakheme, Assistant Editor (Arts)

Nigeria’s footballer and former Super Eagles captain, Austin Jay Jay Okocha, did the unusual again recently at Ikeja, Lagos. This time, it was not on the football pitch. Kitted in green and white t-shirt and trouser, he rode on a branded bike with a Kwik Delivery box into the Meeting Room 1 of the Marriot Hotel, Ikeja. As he alighted from the bike, the select audience greeted him with shouts of ‘Jay Jay.’

Okocha’s entry into the room followed that of a female celebrity power-biker and entrepreneur Fehinty who led the ride. This spectacle signaled the start of the unveiling of the duo as ambassadors by Kwik Delivery, a Nigerian technology-driven delivery service firm. Symbolically, they exhibited strength and pride of bikers to showcase the company’s ‘ready to serve’ mission in the business of delivery services.

Okocha said that the company’s ideas align with his desire to support start-ups in business in Nigeria, adding that the establishment of Kwik Delivery services in Nigeria serves as a major employment and empowerment opportunities for Nigerian youths.

“Since its inception in Nigeria in 2019, Kwik Delivery has become synonymous with swiftness, efficiency, passion, innovation and drive. Kwik is all about enabling Nigerians succeed in business. The firm possesses all qualities and virtues in which my fans and I recognise and that is why I decide to partner them,” Okocha said.

Fehinty (Fehintoluwa Okegbenle), who has toured regions in Africa on bike, said that partnering a firm like Kwik Delivery rekindles her passion for bike riding as a female entrepreneur. She also noted that having ridden on bike from Lagos to Abuja in one day, and also covered 1000 kilometer challenge on bike, it is a challenge for female folks to break barriers with a duty call like Kwik’s delivery job.

“As a biker, I constantly challenge myself to be creative and break new grounds. I am proud to be associated with Kwik Delivery that has consistently shown commitment to innovation and excellence in service delivery through many of its packages for Nigerian businesses. I am also identifying with this delivery brand to challenge and motivate Nigerian females to pursue their passion in any career of their interest regardless of its nature, as long as they devout their minds to it,” Fehinty said.

She disclosed that taking a job like service delivery on bike should not be seen as a challenge for Nigerian women. “I do it to tell other women that no gender circumstance should stand in the way of doing it like men; after all, women drive all kinds of vehicles and why not biking,” Fehinty added.

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Kwik Delivery Service, Romain Poirot-Lellig said it was an honour well deserved to have the two iconic celebrities identifying with the firm. “We are extremely proud to unveil these two brand ambassadors and we know that they will carry high, Kwik Delivery’s values of passion and breaking new grounds,” he added.

He disclosed that the spirit behind establishing the technology-driven courier services in Nigeria with its branches in Lagos, Abuja and Paris, France, is to upscale the development of e-commerce in the country. He noted that Kwik Delivery was established in June, 2019, with mandate to enable businesses and merchants sell online, deliver to customers and get paid in a simple, fast and reliable manner through Smartphone app on our social media handles and site, www.Kwik.delivery/ has count close to thousand delivery partners and over 70,000 customers.

“You know if you want to develop e-commerce in the service delivery, you have to ensure smooth customer relationship especially at the point of delivery, and also ensure that value systems are well integrated. These are the systems we are bringing on board to make a difference in the Nigeria business space,” Poirot-Lellig noted.

On the ease of doing business in he said: “The first challenge we had was making people outside Nigeria to believe that business is good here, because the stories we heard about the country was not an encouraging at first. We worked on changing the narrative and at the same time improved on the e-commerce and staff development for effective smooth operations.

“We have not recorded any loss, damage or theft of goods by staff, and this is because we carefully chose our staff through integrity test exercise and recommendations. For us at Kwik Delivery, our staff welfare is our priority because of the nature of the job. We give them sense of belonging and also empower them for the future by ways of training, ensuring safety at work and abiding  by the rule of traffic laws, giving them loans to support any entrepreneurial spirit and ensure that they succeed in whatever they chose to do. We also partner with government in the area of prompt payment of taxes, updating vehicle documentations and other government policies for effective operation,” he said.

By Ozolua Uhakheme, Assistant Editor (Arts)

Tourism stakeholders have underscored the relevance of digital technology in revamping the tourism and hospitality industry amid the COVID-19 pandemic and security challenges in Nigeria. They emphasised the need for government to invest more in infrastructure development to aid the digital revolution.

In a communiqué issued at the close of a one-day interactive meeting in Calabar, Cross River State capital, recently, they stressed that domestic tourism was by far more beneficial to the country than international tourism.

The Southsouth stakeholders’ meeting had as theme Use of Digital Technology to Revamp the Tourism and Hospitality Industry amid COVID-19 and Security Challenges in Nigeria.

According to the communiqué, domestic tourism contributed about an N7 billion, amounting to 4.4 percent contribution to GDP as at 2019 and is a sufficient baseline for ascending socio-economic growth.

“That all stakeholders in the industry should as a matter of urgency embrace technology to aid their businesses.

“That deliberate attempts should be made by the government to provide adequate, accessible and interest-friendly funding for the industry such as the establishment of the Tourism Development Fund (TDF).

“That Government should create an enabling environment for improved synergy amongst the various stakeholders in the tourism industry.That there is a need for a deliberate focus on the identification, development and upgrading of our tourist sites. To this end, funding for research is key. That there is a need for a review of all Tourism Master plans, laws and regulations to address the new normal,” it added.

Earlier at the session, Minister for Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed stated that COVID-19 pandemic brought huge challenges to all sectors of the Nigerian economy with the tourism sector being the worst hit.

He noted that “the choice of the theme for the stakeholders meeting could not have come at a better time when at the helm of this endeavour is Mr Technology himself (DG NTDC). It is, therefore, certain that stakeholders and all the sector professionals will take advantage of this meeting to come out with workable and practicable solutions at the end of the day.

“Gathering stakeholders in fora that offers the opportunity to seek options like this is most relevant and highly commendable. It will certainly allow making some postulations as to how best to cope with the situation through identification of sound and workable strategies for a post COVID-19 engagement.”

The minister reiterated the commitment of the ministry to ‘providing plain and enabling working environment for all agencies under its purview for optimum performance.’

He advised that inter-agency collaborations in both private and public sectors such as the one that produced this meeting should be strengthened rather than engaging in divisive personal pursuits which are unprofitable.

Deputy Governor of Cross River State, Prof Evara Esu who was represented by Commissioner of Culture and Tourism Development, Mr. Eric Anderson, stressed the need to embrace the use of digital technology to enable us to revamp the tourism and hospitality industry amid the COVID-19 pandemic and security challenges in Nigeria.

He stated that the transformation to use digital technology as an innovation in the tourism sector has opened up new opportunities for tourism businesses to compete in global markets.

“Digital technology is helping the tourism/travel industry to improve on their day-to-day operations, modify business models while also improving the customer experience and patronage.”

He disclosed that with the introduction of digital technology, high-value services are being delivered in the industry.

The Deputy Governor noted that the tourism sector suffered a direct hit from the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The effect is of global impact but it is amazing the creative resilience of the operators that prompted an operational shift. Hence, the use of Digital Technology – a procedure that is changing the way people live, do business and travel,” he explained.

He pointed out that reports from the global tourism and travels, in 2019 shows a drop to $4.7 trillion after suffering a loss of almost $4.5 trillion in 2020 with a significant drop in GDP by a staggering 49.1%, compared to 2019.

“In 2020, 62 million jobs were lost across the sector globally and until the sector experiences a full recovery, the likelihood of more job losses may still be looming. It is, therefore, imperative to recreate the sector deliberate for a viable outcome.

“Accordingly, the Nigeria Tourism Sector is not laid back but coming to grips with the adaptation to product and service enhancing technologies such as online transport solutions (bolt, online ticketing, etc), destination marketing on social media catalogues (Instagram etc) and others,” he submitted.

Director-General Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) Mr Folorunsho Coker corroborating the submission of Alhaji Mohammed and the Deputy Governor on the effect of COVID-19 on Tourism said: “To say that tourism is one of the sectors worst hit by the COVID-19 pandemic since early 2020 is stating the obvious, as the advent of the virus disrupted, in a fundamental way, the traditional modes of human convergence, whether around economic, social or other forms of activity.

He said that the UNWTO recognised the year 2020 as the worst in tourism’s recorded history with Tourism arrivals falling back to the year 1990 levels. He noted that National Bureau for Statistics (NBS) reported that Nigeria recorded a trade deficit of N7.38 trillion in the year 2020.  The highest we have recorded since 1981.

Coker praised the resilience of tourism and hospitality businessmen and stakeholders while expressing admiration for their steadfast commitment to the growth of the sector even in the face of huge economic and social challenges.

He stated that part of the reasons  for the meeting was  to collectively develop proactive and sustainable ideas that will properly organise the sector and accelerate its a recovery in our country and the South-South geo-political zone. As stakeholders, we need to consider and deploy innovative recovery solutions that are homegrown and practical, tailor-made for our specific environment and people.

He described tourism as a powerful and beneficial agent of economic and social change, with significant positive contributions to the balance of payment in many countries throughout the world.

“The ability of the Hospitality and Tourism industry to generate new employment opportunities especially for the low-skilled and unskilled groups (predominantly populated by women and children) makes the sector a critical component in the development agenda of this country.

In this age of technology, the international tourism industry has adopted a third “T” (Technology) to drive “Travel and Tourism.

“The evolution of technology is fostering big changes in the travel and tourism industry. We are currently in an era where technology is the major fulcrum that creates momentum in the leisure-travel space and indeed in all facets of human living,” he said.

He disclosed that ‘the pandemic created a unique opportunity for mankind’s advancement by accelerating the deployment of disruptive technologies to make work and living easier in a contactless word occasioned by the virus.’

He added that the development of digital tools and smart apps continue to disrupt and drive change in the tourism sector in recent times and these technological advancements are already transforming the tourism value chain.

“At the NTDC, we have been at the frontline of marketing the wonders of the Nigerian world as a particular destination through vital collaborations with technology giants like Facebook, Google and Wikimedia.

“Through this, a global online audience has been availed the opportunity to Tour Nigeria and witness the stories and cultural treasures of Nigeria. From our festivals to museums, renowned locations, and iconic landmarks, the images and online stories, as offered on our digital channels, unfold a rich tapestry that equally documents Nigeria for posterity.

“Tour Nigeria” is about exploring Nigeria virtually in a manner that will awaken adventurers, taking them on a journey into an authentic national experience that showcases the true spirit and essence of the country, encompassing historic, cultural and heritage sites, to sun-kissed coastlines, beaches, breath-taking waterfalls, natural springs, the grandeur of festivals, wildlife and magnificent plateaus.

“With the success of the protocols of safety and the coming of vaccines and other novel therapies that are lifting the climate of fear that the coronavirus has cast across the globe, we are gradually closing in to reap a bountiful harvest from digitalising the wonders of the Nigerian world. This will be in terms of motivating a huge volume of physical visits, as our planet makes greater strides towards recovery and heals. There will be a post-pandemic economic boom and tourism will be at its crest. It will be packaged, domestic and Nigerian for Nigerians”, he said.

Coker disclosed that Domestic Tourism is six times bigger than international Tourism, hence, Tour Nigeria, and the economic revival which it is set on becoming a part of, signposts healing for the country, our ways of life, destinations and livelihoods.

“In its online manifestation, the Tour Nigeria brand is leveraged to become a premier destination for authentic Nigeria content, in a way that deploys creativity, arts and culture, all driven by technology, to advance the new national agenda.

“We believe that developing our domestic tourism market is key to attracting foreign tourists. We need to grow what we have before it can be attractive for tourists and investors.

“We also believe that it can only be achieved when the tourism laws are reviewed, standards are unified, manpower is properly trained, stakeholders collaborate, investments are attracted, and proper marketing and promotion are done,” he added.

 

By Olukorede Yishau

The man Ifie Sekibo is an astute Nigerian banker and entrepreneur adept at returning moribund companies to the path of sustained profitability. He is the pioneer and current CEO and Managing Director of Heritage Bank, Nigeria’s most innovative bank. A post he held since 2012.

He wrote his book (Leadership Turnaround” out of his quest to tell his story from climbing the ladder of success to attain leadership positions. He did not hold back on the failings and challenges he encountered on his way up. From his successful revival of Societe Generale Bank of Nigeria (SGBN), a massive success by any metric, to the creation of Heritage Bank.

Leadership Turnaround is a condensed commentary from a leader who has recorded remarkable successes, failed in some instances along the way, picked himself up and made it a duty to get better. It is the story of a leader, reputed for turning around failed enterprises, as well as having a knack for spotting and nurturing SME’s.

The book downplays what has become the regular leadership clichés, and opted for the language of experience, presented in a dialogic and conversational tone. Perhaps, knowing that the many leadership books hanging on bookshelves are heavily laden with theories, the author adopted a practical approach, which sets it apart from the others.

Written on the premise that “the essence of true leadership is that you impact your local community for a wider benefit,” the author reveals how he turned a dead banking institution into a successful endeavour benefiting thousands and ushering him onto the global stage.

In building brands, for instance, the author admonished Nigerians to build businesses that will outlive their generation. Citing the case of the Arthur Guinness family, the author shared the remarkable story of how the enterprise was handed down generations, through vision, faith, values and commitment.

In Leadership Turnaround, the author made a brilliant analogy of the processes in the fractional distillation column of a refinery, and the process that distils an individual from his raw talent into a fine leader. The book likens the Training School set up for Heritage Bank as the refinery. Leadership needs to go through such catalytic cracking to refine the attributes and qualities from the crude form. In setting up the refinery, the author did not settle for an artisanal refinery for quick fixes, with attendant environmental impact. Rather, he invested in efficient “fractional distillation columns” for human resource, to refine the leaders he needed to run the organisation, prosper and hand it to the next generation.

Sustainability! He set up a solid training school that reached beyond just banking, to teach etiquette, relationship, social assets, law, and many more. He wanted well-rounded leaders.

Leadership Turnaround stirs up an interesting conversation of globalisation and the hybrid form, glocalisation.

The author admonished young people to substitute the mindset of globalisation with that of glocalisation, so they can customise their global outlook to solving local problems.

This is an interesting perspective which I consider very apt for Nigerian youths who want to hit the international headlines, without first making headlines in their local ecosystem. The pathway to global success should be facilitated by the local problems you solve. According to the author, this is what set the likes of Jack Ma apart.

An interesting experience shared by the author in this book, is the revival of the dead bank, Societe Generale Bank. Reviving a failed bank in any country of the world is never easy. In Nigeria, this is even more difficult. In fact, it could be as difficult as raising the dead. You will need the faithful sisters Mary and Martha, as well as the son of God, all present and joined together in faith, to call “Brother Laz” back to life. And yes, that did happen; not literally, but in some sense. The author and his team (the Mary’s and the Martha’s) apart from the vision, commitment, positive thinking and resources, also relied on faith. Yes, you need faith to dream of getting over 200 bank customers to withdraw their cases in a single day and settle out of court. This account was intriguing, and loaded; albeit, told with such simplicity that demystified what ought to be a complicated success story.

The author reached for examples, case studies and scenarios from different perspectives. He made a lot of Biblical references, not surprising, as a section of Leadership Turnaround was on the role of faith in leadership. In one analogy, he cited the power of single-mindedness and unity of purpose, as exemplified in the Biblical tower of Babel, which struck a chord with me. I have often used this analogy while teaching the role of Protocol in Computer Communications and Networks, and it epitomises the power of a common understanding and mindset. Once a team is united and have a single mindset, it is difficult to defeat them. God identified this in the case of the tower of Babel. The author highlighted this as an important ingredient for success in the corporate space.

The book has several “Take Action” stopovers after each chapter; where readers are refreshed with simplified but impactful action points. The lessons that follow each are drawn from the real world of successful business enterprise. So much was covered in such short space. Some of these include lessons on the complexities of the world of mergers and acquisition; lessons on dealing with soft issues; lessons in emotional intelligence; lessons on having the right mindset; lessons on visioning and the kinetics of visioning; lessons in entrepreneurship; the importance of hitting the road, and gaining traction.

In Leadership Turnaround, the author did not hold back on the failings and challenges he encountered on his way up. From his successful revival of SGBN (a massive success by any metric) to the creation of Heritage Bank, and to the quickfire acquisition of Enterprise Bank – which turned to be a poor decision on timing. The author shared these lessons to illuminate the path of the reader, so the mistakes are not repeated. Mistakes are not to be buried and filed out of memory; they can be converted to steps on the ladder on the way to the top. They form part of the script of success.

The author once shared with us the role of chance in the Nigerian business terrain. While I agree with him, I would add that you need to be deliberate to take your chances; as deliberate and measured as he was, and still is.

This is the story told by the author with such candour and remarkable simplicity. I recommend this book to all who seek practical insights into leadership.

Each chapter concludes with Take Action questions and recommendations designed to stir your views and beliefs—setting in motion ideas and theories that need to be explored and acted upon to advance your successful future. Leadership Turnaround may focus on Nigeria—but every person, including youth and mature adults in every nation, can benefit from the wealth of knowledge and wisdom contained within every page of this book.

 

 

 

Gamaliel Onosode was in his lifetime known as the boardroom guru. A new book by Femi Osofisan, ‘Gamaliel Onosode Classicus, An Honourable Life’, looks beyond his involvement in corporate Nigeria. Associate Editor OLUKOREDE YISHAU writes.

It is not your everyday kind of biography. Call it a literary biography or creative nonfiction and you will be spot on. In parts, it reads like a novel. At times, it reads like an interview and in some parts, like a thriller. Those seem the best ways to describe Femi Osofisan’s biography of Sapele-born Mr Gamaliel Onosode, one of Nigeria’s brightest minds who died some years back.

The book, ‘Gamaliel Onosode Classicus, An Honourable Life’, is not the first on Onosode so Osofisan devised an ingenious approach to tell the story of this great Nigerian whose contributions to the public and private sector are still there for all to see. He also reveals details that have not appeared in the previous publication.

Osofisan tries to avoid dwelling on the known parts of Onosode such as his uncompromising rectitude, his probity in business, and his integrity. He dwells instead on his moments of distress, his disappointments, and his other soft sides.

The Onosode Osofisan unveils in this book was a man who had early exposure to books, who stammered in his early years, who developed optical challenge at the university which made him end up with a second class lower, and a man who despite his efforts ended up having his first child out of wedlock during his studies in the United Kingdom.

The book kicks off in Onosode’s home in Surulere, which bore so many memories of his life and times. Through this opening chapter and the one that follows, we meet one of his children, Christopher, who liked playing the piano early in life, we get to see the changes to his home over the years and we get to see how Onosode could be described as a cat with nine lives.

During his lifetime, Onosode had over ten surgeries and on many occasions, his family had almost given up only for him to bounce back. In June 2013, he started feeling severe pain in his shoulder. Some months later, he was in England and consulted doctors. He was diagnosed with cancer of the bone marrow. He was told that it had affected his kidneys and he was placed on dialysis for three weeks. He was told his kidneys would never function normally again for the rest of his life. Dialysis was going to be a constant thing in his life. Onosode believed he could beat the prognosis. He beat the prognosis, his kidneys started functioning again and the doctor dubbed him “the miracle man”.

One day in 1979, he collapsed in his bedroom and vomited congealed blood as a result of a perforated ulcer. Cadbury and Dunlop, two companies he had served, organised an air ambulance to take him to Germany for surgery. The aircraft developed an engine problem and had to turn round to Lagos from around Kano. The ambulance was fixed and he was taken abroad. Not a few family members had given up on the possibility of his returning alive. He did and with a miraculous touch: the wound disappeared without any surgery. And the surgeon told him he was free to eat and drink “nails and broken glasses”. That was how convinced he was of the healing from the ulcer.

There was another miracle in 1996. This time, he had travelled to the UK for business. He had just turned 63. He developed pain in the head and surgery was recommended. This particular instance was peculiar because an in-law of his just died at 63 and somehow he had concluded that good people were meant to die at 63 and he feared he would not come out of the surgery. Well, he ended being operated on twice. And he lived many more years after.

Onosode, according to the book, inherited the history of hospitalisation from his mother, whose marriage story is bound to intrigue you. Onosode’s great grandfather came to trade at Igun, which was then known as Kokori Waterside. He made a friend, Pa Gogobi, there, and to cement their relationship it was decided that their children must get married. So, the great grandfather’s friend gave him his young daughter to live in his household to eventually become the wife of Pinnock, Onosode’s father. She was very young then and lived with the Onosodes for years. One interesting thing about this marriage, which produced the great Gamaliel, was that for years his mother assumed that all his children were products of incest and that his husband was her brother and silently resented her husband, but she never mentioned it. But her patience ran its course one day when Onosode received a sudden guest in his Lagos home. The guest told him his mother was sick and his attention was needed. When he travelled with the visitor to the hospital his mother was in, the doctor told him she had limited time to spend. She wanted to spend it with one of her daughters, but Pa Pinnock insisted she must be brought to his house. Onosode and others felt his father was weak and would not be able to give her the care she needed. They all decided to go with their mother to convince Pa Pinnock to let their mother stay with the daughter in Benin. The old man would not budge. He shouted on Onosode and others. Then all of a sudden, Aguara, the sick mother, screamed at her husband and said he had no right to determine where she would stay.

“I say, nonsense, Pinnock! The pretending Man of God. No, you don’t decide for me anymore!”

She continued: “That…that is all over now. You’ve seized and controlled my life all these years and now it’s over. I’m not staying with you. I’m escaping, going with my children.”

She went ahead to talk about her belief that Pa Pinnock was her sibling who had forced himself on her and made her pregnant. She was terrified of his hot temper and never mentioned it and now that she felt she was dying and that she was being punished for participating in incest, she let it all out, if only to clear her mind before her death.

The old man burst out laughing and went on to narrate how she came to live with them and why. Her relationship with her husband improved after that and she lived ten more years contrary to the medical advice. In those ten years, they lived like Romeo and Juliet following each other everywhere. He died in 1975 and she died in 1981.

Very instructive also is the chronicle of how Pa Pinnock saved a preacher from kidnappers, acquired education, and eventually became a pastor. This has a bearing on how Gamaliel and the other Onosode children turn out.

Lovers of poetry may like the part of the book, which gives insight into the personality of the late Christopher Okigbo, one of Nigeria’s greatest poets of all time. Okigbo was killed during the Biafran war. The Okigbo that emerges on the pages of this book took ‘advantage’ of the closeness of the University College, Ibadan to a nursing school. However, the Okigbo unravelled here is just a scratch of the naughty one in Obi Nwakanma’s ‘Christopher Okigbo 1930-67: Thirsting for Sunlight’.

The book also has an interesting account of Onosode’s relationship with the late Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, who was Minister of Finance and an in-law. Other accounts that make the book stand out involve his relationship with Pro-Chancellors in his time, past Nigerian leaders such as Yakubu Gowon, Shehu Shagari, Sani Abacha, Ibrahim Babangida, and Ernest Shonekan. His years in elementary, secondary, and university also make for an interesting read.

Other soft details in the book include Onosode personally washing his socks and underwear and carrying the tray to the kitchen himself after breakfast. You will also marvel at the revelation that Pa Pinnock only demanded money from Onosode only once and he came to Lagos for the first time for this purpose; not knowing where his son was leaving, he went to the police station in Broad Street, and the police through the First Baptist Church on Broad Street helped to fish him out.

The author’s recollection of the day Onosode broke down in tears while narrating the death of Benjamin, his immediate younger brother who died in 2011, also shows another soft side of this icon. Onosode had told the author that Benjamin was like his first son and he had hoped he would be the one to look after him in old age.

The book also unveils the naughty Onosode who as a pupil was fond of teasing teachers. There was a Lagosian, Mr. Williams, who taught him Mathematics. Onosode was fond of embarrassing the teacher because of his deficiencies. He so frustrated the man that one day he screamed at him: “I hate you!” and that was what made him change his naughty ways. The duo eventually became friends.

There are also moments of hilarity in the book, a key one being the recollection about a pupil who was acting in Williams Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and added these words to his lines “carry am make we dey go” forcing the teacher to say Shakespeare could not have written such Pidgin English line.

The book also reveals the fact that before his death, his first child (whom he had out of wedlock) renounced him and adopted the surname of her step-father. They had had an issue over her dating of a married man whom she later had a child for.

The chronicles of how he met his wife and married her less than one month after proposing to her, his failed love affair with a lady he met at UCI, and the ‘disastrous’ attempt to arrange a wife for him after he came back from post-graduate studies in the UK also add to the appeal of this book.

The mixture of first-person narration, third-person recollection, and dialogue techniques add to the beauty of this work. Only one with a literary background like Osofisan can pull off a biography in this unorthodox way.

Osofisan ends most of the chapters on a cliff-hanger thus encouraging you to flip to the next. It is a technique thriller writers use to keep readers glued. He also uses flashbacks in ways only common with fiction. The diction in this book is easy to follow, the syntax is on point and the narration flows with accustomed ease.

When you read this book, especially if you skip the introductory part, you are likely to go away with the impression that the author interviewed one superwoman with extraordinary knowledge of the subject, but it is all a literary device. Osofisan interviewed so many people and only chose to present all of them as a single loquacious female voice, and it works well.

 

 

By Adebisi Onanuga

Lagos State judiciary is seeking to employ more judges to high courts in the state.

The move followed the gale of retirement of judges from the bench on attainment of the mandatory retirement age of 65 years.

A public notice calling for expression of interest from seasoned legal practitioners has been posted at the premises of all courts in the five judicial divisions by the Lagos State Judicial Service Commission.

The public notice which was signed by the chairman of the commission and the Chief Judge of Lagos State,  Justice  Kazeem Alogba, was referenced  “Appt Judges/2021/Vol. 1/1 and dated  August 2, 2021”

It was titled: “ Call for Expression of Interest In Re:Appointment To The High Court Bench of Lagos state.”

Read Also: CJ orders against Soludo: CJN directs sanction against FCT judge

The public notice stated in part: “This is calling on suitable ‘persons interested in being  appointed as Judges of the High Court of Lagos State to express such interest in writing within Twenty-One (21 days of the date hereof. Such expression of interest should be accompanied by 8 (eight) copies each of Curriculum Vitae and Credentials.

“Expression of interest should be submitted to : The Chairman, Lagos State Judicial Service Commission Adetunji Adefarasin House, Oba Akinjobi Road, Ikeja.”

No fewer than six judges  will be retiring from the bench before the end of this month.

The development will deplete the number of serving judges of the Lagos bench from 61 to 56.

So far, four judges have retired on  the attainment of the statutory retirement age of 65.

They include Justice Grace Onyeabo who,  until her retirement, was the Administration Judge, Ikeja High Court; Justice Adeniyi Onigbanjo  who retired voluntarily on health grounds; Justices Babajide Candide-Johnson and Iyabo Kasali, who  retired  July and August respectively also on the attaining statutory 65 years.

Those to retire in September include  Justice Owolabi Dabiri and Justice Marian Olajumoke Emeya.

A source within the  Judiciary said more judges will be retiring from the bench of the Lagos Judiciary within the first quarter of next year.

Representatives of women groups met in Abuja under the auspices of the Nigerian Feminist Forum (NFF) to examine ways to address challenges of gender violence and discrimination against women. They urged more states to pass the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Bill. ERIC IKHILAE reports.

Some of the key social challenges being experienced in the country today include gender-based violence and discrimination against the female gender in appointments, cultural practices, among others.

As a measure against gender-based violence, particularly against women and children, the 36 states governors, at a meeting of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) in June last year, declared a state of emergency on sexual and other forms of gender-based violence. They also followed up by replicating the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act (VAPP) at the state level.

But, speakers at a recent gathering in Abuja by representatives of some women groups, under the auspices of   the Nigerian Feminist Forum (NFF) noted that a lot still need to be done. They expressed concern over the rising number of women in internally displaced persons’ camps and noted that Nigeria ranks 122nd out of 144 countries in closing the gender gap.

The Coordinator of the VAPP Act Implementation Committee, Ene Ede noted that only 22 states have enacted the VAPP law, a development, it observed, contributes to the prevalence of domestic and gender based violence in the country.

Ede said regular sensitisation programmes were being organised for women to demand their rights. She noted that rural women were being conscientised on the provisions of the VAPP Act and other similar legislations that are geared towards safeguarding the rights of vulnerable groups.

Another speaker Blessing Duru of the NFF said awareness was being created among women in rural communities of Imo State to resist existing obnoxious widowhood rites.

Duru regreted the practice where women were subjected to all manners of degrading treatment in the name of culture and tradition.

In her presentation, NFF’s Communication Officer, Angela Nkwo argued that the female gender was being discriminated against in virtually all aspects of the nation’s life and called for urgent reforms to allow more women involvement in decision making.

“The culture of patriarchy, male chauvinism and anarchy has undermined the rights of women and the outcome of this is the exploitation and marginalisation of women in the affairs of development both at the private and public spheres.

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“Also, the prevalence of unequal power relation resulting in disproportionate distribution of rights and privileges to women has been a great issue of concern, and this has led to different interventions by individuals and women’s groups to eradicate such concepts

“After 22 years of undisrupted democracy in Nigeria, Nigerian women and girls are confronted with gross violation of their rights experienced via: violence in the home, sexual harassment at work and school, rape and defilement, harsh and punitive widowhood rites, female genital mutilation and cutting, forced childhood marriages, sexual violence in conflict situations and during armed robbery attacks, enforcement of gender biased laws, kidnap of school children especially girls, disinheritance of wives and daughters, and harmful traditional practices amongst others.

“Women in Nigeria have suffered years of neglect, disrespect, abuse, and violence simply because of patriarchy. It is regrettable that despite all the laudable statistics nature has bestowed upon our nation, Nigerian women are still confronted with questionable norms and traditions that strive to reinforce patriarchy,” she said.

Nkwo, who identified measures to be adopted to redress years of discrimination against women, said her group would prefer a situation where all political parties in the country make women their National Chairpersons, especially the top-rated,

She added: “We demand that women be fielded as governorship candidates especially the supposed big controlling parties. The NFF calls for a 40 per cent quota system strictly for women across the 18 accredited political parties for the 2023 general elections.

“To address insurgency and abuse of women, the NFF calls on the Federal Government to show commitment to the cause and announce women in the security agencies as service chiefs. They know where it pinches most.

“We call on all the 36 states of Assembly to immediately pass the VAPP bill into law to protect the rights of every person, women and girls inclusive. We call on women to register to vote in the ongoing voters’ registration. Further, we call on women to join political parties and to stand election,” Nkwo said.

By Adebisi Onanuga

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has set up a N100 million medical fund under its Project Wellbeing, a health programme designed to  assist  lawyers  in need of assistance to access funds for medical expenses.

NBA President Olumide Akpata, who disclosed this in a statement, said the funds would be applied, from time to time, to support the medical needs of members who cannot benefit from the NBA-NHIS scheme, or whose ailments do not qualify as “critical ailment” under the association’s new policy entered into with Leadway Assurance.

He said the funds would be disbursed to deserving or qualified members using parameters to be published by the managers of the fund.

Akpata said the fund has a seed capital of N10 million from the NBA while the balance would be raised by the NBA Welfare Committee through donations from well-meaning members.

The NBA President said that Project Wellbeing  is now fully activated and that the association has  achieved a significant milestone in it’s agenda to improve on the health and wellness programme for  members.

Akpata recalled that a few months ago, he informed members  that the NBA was in negotiations with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to provide affordable medicare for Nigerian lawyers.

He said negotiations have now been concluded and culminated in the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the NBA and NHIS  two Thursdays ago.

“With this arrangement in place, I believe that it is an opportune moment to clearly outline to you the various plans that we have put in place, under our “Project Wellbeing”, to ensure that our members have access to good and affordable healthcare.

The first is the NBA-NHIS Health Insurance Scheme. At the time that the NHIS announcement was initially made, we also informed you that to kickstart the NBA-NHIS Scheme, the NBA will,

He said under the  pilot phase, the NBA will be paying the health insurance premium for 1,000 lawyers selected from all the 125 branches of the NBA using some set guidelines.

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According to him,  the selection process, which was primarily led by the chairmen of the various branches of NBA, has since been completed and that the lawyers who were selected as part of the pilot scheme, are now entitled to enjoy, at no cost to them, the benefits of the scheme at NHIS designated hospitals across the country.

He explained further: “Under this scheme, our members will be entitled to extensive healthcare cover.  Other lawyers who were not selected as part of the pilot scheme and who wish to benefit from NBA-NHIS scheme may do so by paying a hugely discounted annual subscription fee of N15,000 to the NHIS.

“The NBA Publicity Secretary will soon circulate the detailed benefits available under the scheme, and the procedure for subscribing.

“The second is the critical ailment insurance that we launched at the beginning of this year as part of our arrangements with Leadway Assurance.  This is related to, but different from, the N2 million life insurance cover that we also have for our members with Leadway Assurance.

“Under this arrangement, our members who are diagnosed with “critical illness” (as defined under the insurance policy) will, subject to meeting agreed conditions, be entitled, at no extra cost to them, to receive N1 million towards the treatment of such critical illness.

“The third is the accidental medical expenses cover that we also have with Leadway.  Here, members are entitled to a reimbursement of their properly documented medical expenses in the case of an accident up to the sum N60,000.00 in qualifying cases.

“The fourth is that Leadway has agreed to provide, at no extra cost to our eligible members, telemedicine access with licensed medical doctors under the Leadway telemedicine platform.  This will enable our members to have initial virtual consultations with doctors without going into the hospital in the first instance.”

Akpata , alongside his team in the executive expressed appreciation  to all the members of the NBA Welfare Committee for their immense support throughout this process.

He noted that there may be overlaps in some of these arrangements, but that the idea is to provide members with various options to accessing decent healthcare at no additional cost to them in most cases.

He also expressed  appreciation to members  already have their personal or employer-sponsored health cover, adding “I know, firsthand, that a majority of our lawyers are not similarly placed, hence the need for this scheme which has now gone live.”

Akpata remarked that he was aware of the enormous expectations expected of them by members and assured  that his team  will continue to do all that they  can to meet those expectations and to deliver on their mandate to us.

 

The rich Eleme culture was celebrated recently when the princess of Okori in Eleme Rivers State, Princess Nma Appolus Chu defied all odds to go through the full wedding rites in core Eleme tradition during her marriage to her heartthrob Ajirioghene Ilaye. The ceremony was held at Okori, Eleme in Rivers State.

She thus earned herself the sobriquet of ‘the face of African womanhood, culture and tradition’.

But what played out was the real marriage tradition of Eleme people as her father, His Royal Highness Appolus Chu, the Egbere Emere Okori, Oneh Oghale and Oneh-Eh Nchia Eleme X, the custodian of the culture and tradition of his people. With the full support of his daughter, the traditional ruler embarked on a revival of the true meaning of Eleme tradition that had almost gone extinct.

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A statement from the palace said: “African richness, beauty and uniqueness of the fast eroding traditional marital rites of Eleme people was in full display as Princess Nma, despite her exposure, western education and sojourn in Canada, observed all the traditional rites of her marriage ceremony.

“The aim of the entire rites was to awaken the consciousness of the people, so that what was left of Eleme tradition and culture can be saved and handed down to the generations to come before modernisation, religion and politics strips it all away.

Princess Nma’s action is a clarion call to Africans at home and in the diaspora to reignite interest in our waning culture so we can rediscover our uniqueness as a people and find a basis for our development, rather than following the trends of other, often alien, cultures.”