Follow @davidblawal Arunma Oteh, former Director-General, Security Exchange Commission (SEC) has been appointed Vice President and Treasurer of theWorld Bank.
The appointment was on Friday confirmed in a press statement issued by Jim Yong Kim, World Bank President of the World Bank.The statement reads:"I am pleased to announce the appointment of Arunma Oteh as VP and Treasurer of the World Bank.Arunma, a Nigerian national, was most recently the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria. Appointed to a five-year term by the President of Nigeria in 2010, she led the transformation of the country’s capital markets industry into a major global presence.She was a member of the Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and the Chairperson of the Africa Middle East Regional Committee of IOSCO.“Prior to joining the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Nigeria, Arunma was Group Vice President, Corporate Services, at the African Development Bank Group (AfDB).In this role, she oversaw a number of departments, including human resources, information and communications technology, and institutional procurement. From 2001 to 2006 she held the role of AfDB Group Treasurer, where she led AfDB’s fundraising and capital market activities across the world.Earlier roles at the AfDB, which she joined in 1992, included trading room management, investment portfolio coverage, and public sector lending. She also held other positions in capital markets and lending during the course of her career at the AfDB.Arunma began her career in 1985 at Centre Point, where she executed debt and equity offerings in the Nigerian capital markets.She earned her Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Nigeria and her Masters of Business Administration from Harvard University. As VP and Treasurer, Arunma will manage and lead a large and diverse team responsible for managing more than $150 billion in assets.Her top priorities will be to:
maintain the World Bank’s global reputation as a prudent and innovative borrower, investor and risk manager;
) manage an extensive client advisory, transaction and asset management business for the Bank;
) engage, in her capacity as one of the World Bank’s key representatives, with outside stakeholders including global private sector financial institutions, the financial media and the sovereign debt and reserve managers in client countries, as well as ratings agencies; and,
) collaborate extensively with the Finance Partners throughout the WBG, including with IFC and MIGA, expanding shared approaches, in particular around innovative financing for development and for key new projects.
Ms. Oteh was selected to this position through an international competitive search. Her appointment is effective as from September 28, 2015.
[dropcap color=”#319e4f”]E[/dropcap]ver got tired of WhatsApp messages from friends especially while workload is much or late at night when the only sure thing is sleep, good news is that the instant messaging application now has provision to help handle that.
The Android application PacKage (APK) has had a very fruitful and active day going through no less than 5 updates in the span of 24 hours. The app’s developers introduced a series of new options and seem to be fixing bugs with successive iterative updates from v2.12.189 to the most recent v2.12.194.
According to an APK website, Android Police, the most significant change in this series of updates is the new custom notifications settings. When you open a contact’s or group’s details page, you’ll see a new Notifications box below the Media one.
In it is the option to mute the chat for 8 hours, 1 week, or 1 year, as well as extensive custom notifications. These let you pick a specific tone, vibration length, light, popup notification, as well as the call ringtone and vibration.
Another addition to the app is the ‘Mark As Unread’ feature. Tap and hold on any conversation and you’ll be able to mark it as unread, which switches its status to green but doesn’t affect the read messages status inside the chat or its chronological rank among your conversations.
The significance of such is that it could serve as a visual reminder when you want to get back to someone later.
And finally there are two new changes in the app’s settings. First is a Low data usage option for voice calls, useful when you’re on a limited or slow data plan. Second is a small hint to GoogleDrive backups.
Under Account, Network usage, you’ll see Google Drive backup usage tallied along with the app’s media, messages, and calls. There’s still no way to trigger a Google Drive backup — the option was added several months ago then removed — so this could be a sign that Drive backups may be coming again soon or that someone on the developer team forgot to clear out these options before publishing this apk.
One interesting thing about WhatsApp is that every couple of weeks, the team surprises its users with new features, and keeps on refining them and improving the app’s functionality.
[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen it comes to diet, it’s all relative. Food is just as important to one person as it is to another. Yet, what makes food important to each individual cannot be detached from individual cultures and a culinary tradition that seems disgusting to one society may be revered by another.
For Nigerians, there may be the temptation to travel with extra baggage of local food stuffs, the likes of gari, groundnut or kuli-kuli, palm oil or groundnut oil, egusi (melon), kilishi, ogbono, etcetera. Meanwhile, immigration officers may not allow you travel with them making it difficult altogether.
It is worthy of mention here that an estimated one million Nigerians and Nigerian-Americans live, study, and work in the United States; while on the other hand, over 25,000 Americans live and work in Nigeria. Therefore, it is not an overstatement to call Nigeria a consistently pro-America nation.
Unfortunately, these millions of Nigerians often face a problem that most Americans don’t: and that is grocery shopping. Nigerians prefer eating their cuisine to others available in the US, but Nigerian staples are hard to find.
Of course there are African stores that cater for multiple African nationalities. Yet even these stores have struggled to support the increasing demand for special Nigerian products.
Similarly, these stores are on the outskirts of major cities as against the 65% of Nigerians living in other cities for which the stores’ locations are inconvenient.
Nigerians who live outside of metro areas have to travel hours for their groceries, often to discover that the items they were looking for are out of stock.
To this extent, the need for an online grocery store with the ability to deliver Nigerian delicacies at the doorstep of Nigerians in America cannot be overemphasized.
NigerianFoods.com is a platform that inspires and enables people to cook, eat, share and learn about Nigerian cuisine. It honors tradition but is unabashedly modern.
Interestingly, Nigerianfoods.com has succeeded in delivering local Nigerian ingredients and foodstuffs to 47 of 50 states in the United States of America (USA) including Puerto Rico as at June 2015.
Stressing the importance of Nigerian online grocery store to Nigerian-Americans and American locals, Ian Cohan-Shapiro, co-founder Nigerianfoods.com said: “We arrived at providing this service when my school mate at the University, Tosin had to travel several kilometres in search of egusi and eba. Then we agreed on establishing a platform to meet that need for other people who might feel like him.”
To confirm that, Tosin Osibodu, co-founder and CEO said: “The idea for NigerianFoods.com came when I was studying in New Hampshire and craving Egusi soup. Finding the ingredients I wanted was impossible – I had to resort to bringing extra suitcases full of ingredients from my trips back to Nigeria.”
According to Cohan-Shapiro, the publicity for Nigerian food stuffs has not been enough and that constitutes the reason why Nigerian recipes are not well known across the world.
“I have been in Nigeria for a year and half now and my best meal is moi-moi and pepper soup. I like both because they are entirely new to me and I find them interesting.
“Nigerian foods mean different things to different people. Pepper soup helps me quench cold and it is just perfect for me. I enjoy moi-moi and already mentioned it to my mum who initially had difficulties preparing it but with our practical videos on cooking, she has tried her hands on it a couple of times except that I am yet to taste and certify her moi-moi,” he said.
The platform was established to deliver the widest selection of Nigerian ingredients in the US (over 180 products), so Nigerians in the US can enjoy the taste of home without hassle.
It carries egusi seeds, suya seasoning, kilishi and hundreds of other Nigerian special delicacies. Through rich content – videos, food articles and recipes – the platform also provides new ways for Nigerians to engage with their food and identity.
The online grocery store, headquartered in Lagos-Nigeria, definitely has plans to grow its staff strength but currently has 11 employees across Canada, Indonesia and the United States. “I am the minority in the team,” Cohan-Shapiro enthused.
The American also added that his presence became necessary when an European called for inquiry, expecting to hear a Nigerian voice but heard a voice close to his from the other end.
“I picked the call and said hello, how may we help you today. Instead of the caller to answer my question, he was quiet for a while and then asked me a question instead.
“How come I am not hearing a Nigerian speak for Nigerianfood.com and I replied him because all and sundry needs to be served without the stress of intonation or language barrier. And he was amazed.”
Furthermore, besides meeting the needs of diasporans, Nigerianfoods.com also has the potential to assist young women and men who have difficulties in preparing certain Nigerian delicacies.
“We have different practical videos on the platform with clearly indicates steps and procedures for preparing each recipe desired. We do not have all Nigerian recipe yet but you would be amazed at our collections within these 6 months of our operations.
“We observed that the identity around food is not singular and there are diverse audiences for Nigerian delicacies. Imagine how we combine Chicken Suya Tacos – to suit the appetite of a Nigerian who visits Mexico where Tacos is commonly found,” Cohan-Shapiro said.
For Osibodu, the group endeavours to meet the need of these diverse audiences who crave Nigerian delicacies while appearing really Nigerian.
The company hires locally and supports exports of local agricultural products thereby contributing to the revenue of the Nigerian Export-Import.
The Director of the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) Lagos, Mr Ronald Kayanja, has presented to the United Nation Country Team (UNCT) an update on activities so far in Nigeria and proposed events for the rest of the year, in consultation with the Resident Coordinator’s Office and in continuation of its commitment to promoting the UN 70th anniversary as a one-UN event in Nigeria.
He noted that the Foreign Affairs Ministry had responded to the letter on UN@70, written by the Resident Coordinator, Mr Daouda Toure, on joint activities with the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Mr Kayanja proposed a formal launch of UN@70 with the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs which will be succeeded by monthly events until December 2015.
However, according to him, there would be one week of activities which would climax on 24th October 2015 when the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is expected to be Chief Guest of Honour.
Other proposed activities include an international conference organised in partnership with the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs (NIIA); Peacekeeping Command of the Nigerian Military to honor fallen combatants during Peacekeeping operations; Public lectures on the UN and Nigeria organized in collaboration with Covenant University, Ota Ogun State.
Others are School Arts Exhibitions and essay competitions on the work of the UN by a School in Abuja and another one in Ogun State; and a Photo exhibition which would probably be the world’s longest photo exhibition organized with Femi Arts Warehouse and planned to be staged at the Bar Beach, Lagos, among others.
In his contribution, the Resident Coordinator observed that the 70th anniversary provided a platform for the UN system to highlight its works in the country. He, therefore, called on all Head of Agencies to communicate UN@70 during their activities.
The National Coordinator of the All Progressive Congress (APC) Scandinaviachapter, Ayoola Lawal, has said it is a welcoming development that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is coming on board as an opposition to the ruling party.
According to him, as much as such it is a welcoming development of our growing democracy and for APC, ‘the PDP spokesperson should be more constructive and put on his thinking cap before making a berating statement against the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration’.
“Trying to impress as an opposition on board is one thing, facing the reality of rebuilding, development and leadership is another.
“The PDP in the name of an opposition party trying to pressurise PMB into acting in their paradigm ways of good governance is a political trick that will not work against this current administration.
“The PDP government, while in authority, completely immersed the fabric of the nation in ruin and the economy in comatose but kept deceiving Nigerians and the world that all was well, which could be likened to the mega financial meltdown of the world in the recent years passed.”
“President Muhammad Buhari pace of leading is necessitated by the current situations on ground. He is a strategist that sacrificed several years to prepare for the leadership as president-elect.
“No individual or few days old as an opposition party can push PMB into deliberate traps and holes premeditated.
“Sixteen years of heavy looting of the treasury of the nation, setting up the country for total failure and making it a sink ship, then turning around to be pressurising PMB after barely 31 days in office is a shame on any individual or opposition party,” he noted.
Lawal further stated that President Buhari and the APC leadership will always welcome any real and constructive advice, as well as meaningful pressures that will be useful in meeting the justifiable expectations of Nigerians, which the party uses every opportunity to reiterate.
He therefore maintained that: “Diarrhoea mouthed, vendetta pressure and ill-intent criticisms are not amongst the ranks. Well meaning Nigerian or party will at this stage in the annals of Nigeria be praying for PMB to get it right and take a very calculated steps rather than rampaging.
“Nigerian is already in a dark mess caused by callous, greedy and shameless people who still has the gut to make vacuum noise in the name of opposition.”
Thus, he prayed that Almighty God continues to strengthen the president and the APC leadership in wisdom to make the country great again. “Welcome, all to a new Nigeria of our dream,” he added.
At an interactive session with Journalists, Moses Siasia, 35-year-old governorship aspirant in Baylesa State, revealed his plans to transform the state. He also lamented the interests of the old folks for the younger generations. David Lawal was at the session for The Nation Newspaper.
Excerpts:
Kindly give us an insight into your background
Well, you are welcome. I believe that the redemption of this country that we call our own lies with our generation; we the youths. I lived in an environment where we had no food, no toilet, I almost lost my life but God was the one that intervened.
They would not give the younger generations the chance, they would continue to come up with strategies that would further undermine us and ensure that the youths do not speak in one voice. In the programmes that we have been able to carry out, none of them have supported us, except very few that believed in us.
How were you able to transform yourself despite the challenges you faced in your younger age?
I fend for myself 17 years ago. I was in the street of Port Harcourt hawking oranges, selling Ice Blocks but at that time I told myself that I wasn’t going to be subservient to my situation. I am going to work hard because I believe that there is a deposit of potentials in me.
That was how I started from that humble background. I washed rugs, plant flowers and today the story is different. Today, I have built a business of a group of companies, Mosilo Groups . We have interest in various sectors. I have employed many persons, mostly youth. We started what is called the Nigeria Young Professional Group and in two years today we are in 15 countries. We are the only young group in Nigeria that is registered in USA and United Kingdom. We are about finalising our registrations with the United Nations.
I founded the Young Professionals Group to give voice to the youths. There is no young man in Nigeria today that has been close to power like I have. I can beat my chest to say that the elites are not interested in the youth.
How do you rate Bayelsa State as at now?
Bayelsa state is less than one million in population and we have received over N2 trillion from 1999 till date but if you come to Bayelsa today, you will cry because there is no concrete work on ground, our educational system is in a state of decay, our women do not have that sense of belonging again because they cannot sell again, our people are used to fishing but cannot do that because of oil spillage. The leadership had not been fair to our people. The sectors are down.
Do you know that there are a lot of Bayelsa students abroad who are stranded and cannot pay their fees any more, they are frustrated, the females have gone into prostitution, the government keep responding that there is no money but when the money comes they share it amongst themselves, it doesn't trickle down to the people.
For instance, we have had successive government in Bayelsa who placed embargo on employment; there is no critical investment in Bayelsa that can employ massively.
Everybody sees government as the only employer of labour in Bayelsa. Now you need a leader that can think outside the box, that is innovative and creative to bring about the investments required in Bayelsa state.
I have been in the private sector, I have business, I have partners and I have the will to do that. You cannot give what you do not have, I have employed people, I have grown a business from scratch to where it is today, I have helped people in my community, I have not bought education material for two years; I have been supplying them.
I have eight children from my community studying abroad, on my mill. So, let all those who have ruled Bayelsa come out and tell what they were able to achieve before they got to that position.
What is your disposition to Youths development in the Country?
The lowest funded ministry in the history of democracy in Nigeria is the ministry of youth. Meanwhile, we gave them the mandate. When I was younger I used to see government development craft centers, skill acquisition centers, sport development institutions, look at the education sector, it suggest that there is no hope for the young generation.
When you canvas for the inclusion of young people in governance, they would say what level of experience do you. So we have found ourselves in a state of dashed hope and opportunity.
I have so much belief in the younger generation that why I am offering myself to liberate my people from the suffering and hardship that they are going through. This is the first time in the new Nigeria democracy that someone of my age group would come out for a position like this, and as a governor being a member of the Council of state; I am going to represent the interest of the youth. This is my will.
We must put an end to political imposition and create a sustainable future for our people. My heart bleeds whenever I am asked ''where are you from?'' Sometimes my friends and associates from abroad say they want to come to my state and I wonder what they would see there.
Meanwhile, Bayelsa state has a huge tourism potential. We have 75 per cent of Nigeria's gas reserve and the level of political gain that Bayelsa has enjoyed has never been enjoyed by any state in this country.
Bayelsa has had a President, a Petroleum minister, a National security adviser all from a state that is not up to one million in population, eight local governments but this political positioning have not been translated into gains to benefit the people.
It will therefore take a will of grace that can bring about the needed change and that is what I am bringing to the table. I am not going to the state house to sell pride but to sell humility, to serve my people, if I have been able to achieve what I have achieved in the private sector, then I can bring the much needed development in the public sector to our people.
Considering your age, would you not need party elders’ support to secure the ticket?
While some remain myopic and wouldn't love to let go because that is where they get their pay from, there are some of them that are positive minded. And we must convince them that it is time for us take care of them and to take the interests of our people serious. And I believe that God will give us the grace to champion this course to the next level.
You should be aware of the level of debt in the state which successive administrations have incurred, how would you run a successful government with the high level of debt?
If you do not take up the challenge you will continue to allow people to accumulate debt for the state. My will is to put a stop to debt owing. We must create investments that would boost the state’s Internally Generated Revenue of the state which is currently less than N1 billion.
We are going to diversify the economy and concentrate on sectors like tourism, agriculture. I would increase investment enough and create environment to attract investors.
We would tax the rich and the big hotels in the state and complete the abandoned five-star hotel project that former President Jonathan started so that people can come and see.
Bayelsa is where oil was first discovered in Nigeria. We would create a museum, a city out of Oloibiri, then develop Akasa and create a beach there. The environment in Akasa in Bayelsa is better than Miami in the US. If you sit in Brass at night you can sight Guinea. Bayelsa State is central to the Gulf of Guinea. You can get to Equatorial Guinea under one hour through boat from Brass. Hence, we can build partnership and build seaport.
We can use the opportunities to create wealth for the people. I am not going to run a debt owing state. There won’t be need to borrow to execute any project. Some of my partners are currently supporting some states in building infrastructures.
We would also team up with them. There are a lot of my partners who are looking for real business environment to invest; we can create that. The current administration created Bayelsa Development Centers in the United Kingdom and South Africa but not many investments have come to the state through this means.
In one year, we can bring about 500 companies in Bayelsa. We can create massive employment under one year, in fact about 50,000 jobs, viable jobs, not N10, 000 jobs or street sweeping jobs. We are going to create job that comes with job security. Wealth to me is not about how much I have in my account but how many lives I have been able to touch and that is why I want the people to vote for me. I have done that in the past.
Majority of the militants from the Niger Delta regional are from your state, what is your plan for them?
I do not see them as militants, rather, I see some of them as professionals. For example, on a high sea and on a very high level of water pressure, someone uses a speed boat to kidnap somebody and still uses the speed boat to escape with his victim. It requires a lot of technicalities to do what they are doing.
We would try to ensure that they channel their energy into productive ventures. We would show them the light to enable them use their potentials rightly and this will further strengthen the state.
That is where human capacity development comes in. I have started meeting with some of them and they have been impressed that someone within their age bracket is coming out for a post like governor, while some of them have not responded.
Well, but we would keep them informed about the dynamics of contemporary politics which largely involves youth participation.
How realistic is it for you to run the state without borrowing funds when elected as governor?
My business is not in debt. You must take loan to fund massive projects but the strategy we have used to run our business is to build partnership and that would be adopted too.
See, running a state is not so different from running a business. Some state governors were able to leave office with good reserves without debt. What we have is enough to sustain the state.
For instance, most investors have it in their business plan that they are going to get gas from Bayelsa and this makes the state very strategic. And we are going to build investment around this with the support of the Federal Government to ensure that we create massive wealth for our people. Our aim is that we transform Bayesa to a point that everyone would become proud of it.
Considering the current level of threat to life in Bayelsa due to kidnapping and hostage taking, how do you intend to ensure the safety of foreign investors and provide basic facilities which they are used to from where they are coming?
We would use Bayelsa as example for modern facilities by Optic fibre network. You would have access to internet from anywhere you are. There are companies that are willing to come and do this and thankfully people are beginning to key into this.
For security, I believe that once the people have a sense of belonging, the state becomes secured. This strategy was used in Borno and it is working. The environment becomes safe once you build confidence and the people are part of the projects.
We must transmit values that would sensitize the people so they would know that they are critical stakeholders in the system. People will be able to access me as this would help to build their trust.
How do you intend to dislodge political heavyweights like the incumbent governor, Dickson and Timipre Silva who are currently rumoured to be interested in the governorship race?
It is not about me, it is not just Moses Siasia, it is a movement. The people's will is more important in politics. This was evident in the last general elections. Power is going back to the people and this is what would happen in Bayelsa too.
Former President Jonathan is from Bayelsa and is expected to be the Godfather in the state. Do you have his support already or hoping to?
People's perception of godfathers in politics really worries me some times. I understand that there is need to gather the support of the heavyweights. I will consult the former president.
I know he is open to the voice of the youth as seen in his works while in office and this is the time for him to show again that he believes in the youth.
Does the ethnic game on ground in Bayelsa favour you? And how would you ensure that you are accepted at the grassroots?
I strongly believe in professionalism so I don't discuss matters like ethnicity or zoning formula. The incumbent governor is from my part of the state, he has used for years and I will also use four years. The choice is there for the people to make and they would make it rightly, I believe that we do not have buy people's vote because the people are wise now.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) Scandinavia Chapter has vehemently condemned the result of the elections held at the National Assembly on Tuesday which produced Senator Bukola Saraki as senate president.
The APC Scandinavia Chapter condemned what it called the ‘manner and way, Saraki and his APC cohorts treacherously worked against the party to emerge the president of the 8th Senate and Honourable Yakubu Dogara as speaker of the House of Representatives respectively.
“It is ignominy and derogatory drama that some APC members could pull together with PDP members to elect a PDP deputy Senate president and majority leader of the 8th Senate.
“It is a clear pointer that some APC members are still having the mindset of Jonathan led administration in the present APC led administration,” noted Ayoola Lawal, National Coordinator, APC Scandinavia Chapter.
According to Lawal, the chapter urges the national leadership of the party to weigh in and set the record straight by meting out the appropriate sanction and punishment against any individual or group for any anti-party activity.
“This is a litmus test and a clear opportunity for the party leadership to send the clear signal that the party’s interest supersedes any individual ambition or interest and this is real change and business unusual,” he maintained.
May 3 every year would always be an important date in the life of every journalists across the globe because that date is set aside to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom, evaluate press freedom around the world, defend the media from attacks on their independence and pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives while discharging their professional duties.
Without doubt identifying ones co-citizens is always an interesting endeavour at international events such as the World Press Freedom Day (#WPFD2015) where delegates from about 80 countries converge and exchange ideas.
Interestingly, the pride goes to the United Nation Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO Nigeria) over Nigeria’s impressive representation at the recent World Press Freedom Day held in Riga, Latvia.
The event, co-hosted by UNESCO and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, started on Saturday, 2nd of May with a side event where participants discussed Media laws, restrictions on civil societies and internet freedom.
At the event, it was as if no country was represented as everyone – black and white – wore the delegation identity card. Even the Nigerians hardly identified each other. But there were blacks.
However, the event of Sunday, May 3 was totally different as Nigerians appeared at almost every session held at the Latvian National Library to celebrate the country’s independence.
UNESCO also marked its 70th year of existence on that day which coincided with Latvian independence.
While back in Nigeria it seemed nothing was happening about the international event, the first plenary session saw Mr. Musikilu Mojeed, the Managing Editor, Premium Times as he
L-R: Mr Edetaen Ojo, Fackson Banda and Ify Aronu a youth-newsroom delegate at the side event held at Stockholm School of Economic in Riga, Latvia
discussed ‘Independent and Quality Media’ with others nationals on the panel.
The panelists agree that investigative journalism, in particular, relies on accurate, in-depth and critical reporting of matters of special public concern, which often requires long and difficult research.
However, the question on the lips of many was: What could be done to strengthen investigative journalism?’
While Mojeed was showcasing his prowess of digital media business, another Nigerian, Mr. Edetaen Ojo, the Executive Director, Media Rights Agenda, captivated the audience at another session with a topic: “Challenges for Freedom of Expression in the Digital Age.”
Discussants at this session agreed that digital revolution is impacting on all spheres of public and private life.
They maintained that more and more personal and public information is collected, stored, processed and shared through the Internet.
At this juncture, the plenary observed that journalism interfaced with wider digital environment and the policy decisions about it while attempting to proffer solutions to how journalists and journalism schools deal with such restrictions that impact on the production and distribution of online news as described in UNESCO’s World Trends in Freedom of Expression and Media Development (2014).
What drew envious glances from participants at the event was the presence of yet another Nigerian at the Parallel session 2, this time a female, to discuss “Regulation, Sustainable Self-regulation and Professional Standards for the Media.
Ms. Ifeyinwa at extreme left Photo by David Lawal, Riga-Latvia
Ms Anthonia Ifeyinwa Omowole is the National President, Nigerian Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ).
She raised one key point at the session and that was “the more female journalists we have in the industry the more we would have at managerial positions.”
No denial, this is vital to journalism in Nigeria considering the lack of regulations for the Nigerian cyber space that permits unregulated flow of information.
More worthy of mention is that beside Latvia, the host nation that had about 12 young journalists and Finland, the host for 2016, which was represented at the event by eight budding journalists, Nigeria was the only country that had two young journalists at the forum.
Ify Aronu, an on-air personality at SplashFM Ibadan, Oyo State, and David Lawal, Online Reporter and Social Media Executive at The Nation Newspaper, were the two young Nigerian journalists that joined the UNESCO Youth Newsroom to cover the event.
Considering the challenges facing the Media in Nigeria – from traditional to digital – one would agree that the representation was worth it.
Meanwhile, one thing that the world may be anticipating soonest is how the event influences the Nigerian media.
The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), on Saturday held a side event as part of activities to mark this year’s World Press Freedom Day (WPFD2015).
The event, which held at the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, Latvia had delegates from across the globe including a youth newsroom of about 12 Latvian journalism students and young journalists who hosted 20 other young emerging journalists, photographers, videographers, podcasters, and social media specialists.
Like the problem media faces in many countries of the world, the key topic of discussion at the side event was ‘Media ownership’; The Nation Newspaper is ably represented at the event.
With Ms. Pavla Holove of Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and Mr. Tamas Bodoky, editor-in-chief of atlatszo.hu, it was realised that one of the major challenges of creating a fair and independent media content is the issue of who owns the media.
Youth Newsroom team members during a brainstorming session. Photo by David Lawal
According to a recent study conducted by OCCRP, political interests and even organized crime claim ownership of the largest media outlets in many regions of the world – Northern Europe in particular.
As the two major discussants engaged the topic, the question begging for answer was; “How can we ensure people will find the truth?”
WPFD is a UNESCO event to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom; to evaluate press freedom around the world, to defend the media from attacks on their independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.
Among such journalists is Peter Greste of Al-Jazeera who was accused of aiding terrorists’ activities in Egypt and was therefore detained for more than 365 days. Greste after his release said: “Journalism thrives when reporters are able to work without draconian constraint. Free media is key to free society, free debate, free ideas.”
The UN General Assembly proclaimed the International day in 1993 following a Recommendation adopted at the 26th Session of UNESCO’s General Conference in 1991.
This, in turn, was a response to a call by African journalists who in 1991 produced the landmark Windhoek Declaration on media pluralism and independence.
The main event is scheduled to hold on Sunday at the Latvian National Library, Mukusalas in Riga, the country’s capital city.
Considering your age, would you not need party elders’ support to secure the ticket?
While some remain myopic and wouldn't love to let go because that is where they get their pay from, there are some of them that are positive minded. And we must convince them that it is time for us take care of them and to take the interests of our people serious. And I believe that God will give us the grace to champion this course to the next level.
You should be aware of the level of debt in the state which successive administrations have incurred, how would you run a successful government with the high level of debt?
If you do not take up the challenge you will continue to allow people to accumulate debt for the state. My will is to put a stop to debt owing. We must create investments that would boost the state’s Internally Generated Revenue of the state which is currently less than N1 billion.
We are going to diversify the economy and concentrate on sectors like tourism, agriculture. I would increase investment enough and create environment to attract investors.
We would tax the rich and the big hotels in the state and complete the abandoned five-star hotel project that former President Jonathan started so that people can come and see.
Bayelsa is where oil was first discovered in Nigeria. We would create a museum, a city out of Oloibiri, then develop Akasa and create a beach there. The environment in Akasa in Bayelsa is better than Miami in the US. If you sit in Brass at night you can sight Guinea. Bayelsa State is central to the Gulf of Guinea. You can get to Equatorial Guinea under one hour through boat from Brass. Hence, we can build partnership and build seaport.
We can use the opportunities to create wealth for the people. I am not going to run a debt owing state. There won’t be need to borrow to execute any project. Some of my partners are currently supporting some states in building infrastructures.
We would also team up with them. There are a lot of my partners who are looking for real business environment to invest; we can create that. The current administration created Bayelsa Development Centers in the United Kingdom and South Africa but not many investments have come to the state through this means.
In one year, we can bring about 500 companies in Bayelsa. We can create massive employment under one year, in fact about 50,000 jobs, viable jobs, not N10, 000 jobs or street sweeping jobs. We are going to create job that comes with job security. Wealth to me is not about how much I have in my account but how many lives I have been able to touch and that is why I want the people to vote for me. I have done that in the past.
Majority of the militants from the Niger Delta regional are from your state, what is your plan for them?
I do not see them as militants, rather, I see some of them as professionals. For example, on a high sea and on a very high level of water pressure, someone uses a speed boat to kidnap somebody and still uses the speed boat to escape with his victim. It requires a lot of technicalities to do what they are doing.
We would try to ensure that they channel their energy into productive ventures. We would show them the light to enable them use their potentials rightly and this will further strengthen the state.
That is where human capacity development comes in. I have started meeting with some of them and they have been impressed that someone within their age bracket is coming out for a post like governor, while some of them have not responded.
Well, but we would keep them informed about the dynamics of contemporary politics which largely involves youth participation.
How realistic is it for you to run the state without borrowing funds when elected as governor?
My business is not in debt. You must take loan to fund massive projects but the strategy we have used to run our business is to build partnership and that would be adopted too.
See, running a state is not so different from running a business. Some state governors were able to leave office with good reserves without debt. What we have is enough to sustain the state.
For instance, most investors have it in their business plan that they are going to get gas from Bayelsa and this makes the state very strategic. And we are going to build investment around this with the support of the Federal Government to ensure that we create massive wealth for our people. Our aim is that we transform Bayesa to a point that everyone would become proud of it.
Considering the current level of threat to life in Bayelsa due to kidnapping and hostage taking, how do you intend to ensure the safety of foreign investors and provide basic facilities which they are used to from where they are coming?
We would use Bayelsa as example for modern facilities by Optic fibre network. You would have access to internet from anywhere you are. There are companies that are willing to come and do this and thankfully people are beginning to key into this.
For security, I believe that once the people have a sense of belonging, the state becomes secured. This strategy was used in Borno and it is working. The environment becomes safe once you build confidence and the people are part of the projects.
We must transmit values that would sensitize the people so they would know that they are critical stakeholders in the system. People will be able to access me as this would help to build their trust.
How do you intend to dislodge political heavyweights like the incumbent governor, Dickson and Timipre Silva who are currently rumoured to be interested in the governorship race?
It is not about me, it is not just Moses Siasia, it is a movement. The people's will is more important in politics. This was evident in the last general elections. Power is going back to the people and this is what would happen in Bayelsa too.
Former President Jonathan is from Bayelsa and is expected to be the Godfather in the state. Do you have his support already or hoping to?
People's perception of godfathers in politics really worries me some times. I understand that there is need to gather the support of the heavyweights. I will consult the former president.
I know he is open to the voice of the youth as seen in his works while in office and this is the time for him to show again that he believes in the youth.
Does the ethnic game on ground in Bayelsa favour you? And how would you ensure that you are accepted at the grassroots?
I strongly believe in professionalism so I don't discuss matters like ethnicity or zoning formula. The incumbent governor is from my part of the state, he has used for years and I will also use four years. The choice is there for the people to make and they would make it rightly, I believe that we do not have buy people's vote because the people are wise now.
