The Nation Newspaper

Tag: experience

  • Chibok girls, ‘Songs of Innocence and Experience’

    WELCOME back home, Chibok girls. I wonder if we can call them girls any longer. In about three years of captivity inside a forest ruled by Boko Haram’s rag tag army, they have gone through such devastating experiences as would make a woman of any girl. Pure as lily and fresh as daisy, 276 of them were kidnapped on 14 April, 2014 from boarding school by gunmen in the dead of the night, and driven straight into the heart of a sprawling forest called Sambisa. There, all sorts of things imaginable and unimaginable would happen. In the rain seasons of those years, I often wondered as a parent what could be happening to these girls. Whenever lightening and thunder struck, I travelled in spirit from the comfort of my house and bed to the forest. I imagined many of them lying on rotten foliage, filled with the fear of snakes and other dangerous animals and insects. Some could be housed in mud huts or houses. They could be cold and hungry. Every moment, they would remember home, and cry. Worst still, a man dirty in mind and body would come for one. Quite naturally, a girl who had been brought up at home to clean her mouth everyday, who would not allow a boyfriend who was unkempt for only one day near her, would detest being forcibly taken by a dirty, savage-looking stranger. But, now, here she is, surrounded by fiendish men who have no respect for personal hygiene, each one seeing her as cheap game. We saw videos of some girls who did not agree that their bodies be violated and who paid for this by being buried alive, standing up, save for their heads which were stoned severely before, finally, they were beheaded! Many girls who thought it was better to be alive saw discretion as the better part of valour, and surrended their bodies to save their lives. In the process, many of the girls would have been gang raped, and would have become pregnant and even had one or two babies, to worsen matters, to men they cannot identify as the fathers of their children. When we contrast these experiences with the picture of the future unfurling before them only three years before now, these must be harrowing experiences. In this unfurling picture of the world, these girls had been looking forward to passing their University placement examinations, to studying in the University and becoming doctors, lawyers, economists or whatever, to getting married someday and having their own families and to living respectable lives as adults.

    A contrasting world confronted them in the forest. Their lives changed. Some would ask: WHY ME? What wrong have I committed to deserve all these? Does God exist? If He does, why would He allow this to happen? Genuinely, some must have lost confidence in Christianity, the religion of their parents,  and adopted Islam, the religion of their captors, if this would save their lives. Inside them, a storm would be raging. It would be a storm of two worlds in collision … the world of their dream and the world of their new reality. This storm reminds me of the titles of two poems we studied for literature in the Higher School Certificate (HSC) class of 1969-70 at Igbobi College in Lagos. It was titled: SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND OF EXPERIENCE. It came in two sections. The poet, WILLIAM BLAKE, produced and printed the book in two phases, beginning with 19 poems in 1789. These were titled: SONGS OF INNOCENCE and captured the joy of protected innocence of childhood in a falling and tormenting world of adulthood. SONGS OF EXPERIENCE came with 26 poems to form the second section of Blakes collection of poems and appeared in 1794. It shows how child innocence, peace and joy and praise is often shattered by that falling world of adults which impinges on childhood and becomes known to the child through experience. Sorrow and pain.

    Through SONGS OF EXPERIENCE Blake challenged some of the iniquities of his days which included racial discrimination, exploitation of child labour and child sufferance and negative, corrupt and repressive tendencies of the Church. He did not fail to also challenge other wrong doings of the society, especially in the political sector.

    Well, our Chibok girls, nay women, have been through it all. It is not surprising that some of them prefer to stay behind in Sambisa forest where they intend to spend the rest of their lives. It is possible they are depressed about what has befallen them and are ashamed to face the world. Nigeria is still a conservative society where almost everyone talks about everyone in negative terms. The President-elect of France, Emmanuel Jean-Michel Macron, married Brigitte Trogneux, 24 years his senior. She was his high school teacher in La Providence High School. She was 39 and he was 15 when they first met in her class. He proposed to her. His parents at first objected to the relationship by sending him to another school in Paris. He asked her to divorce her husband, and spoke to her three children that he wanted to marry their mother. Two of her children are older than Macron. But they all agreed he could marry their mother.

    I know that, in Nigeria, there are many old women who like to frolic with young men their son’s ages, and young men who do not mind fishing upstream. But, largely, this is done under cover. The same goes for grandpas and teenage girls. In Nigeria, Macron’s mother would fight the relationship on all fronts … including the village and market squares, family circles on both sides, and, even take voodoo sacrifices to road junctions in the nude in the dead of the night. So, what chance does a Sambisa forest Chibok woman have to start her life and feel free in Nigeria. This is a real Song of Experience.

    Today is not the day to ask questions about the rightness or wrongness of the fate which befell the Chibok girls. But, today, we may set the stage for that by recognising that God is perfect and that there cannot, therefore, be an accident in creation. If He is perfect and if His perfection permits of no accident, because an accident would be an index of imperfection, we must always look inwards, into our souls and spirits, for the cause and course of any event or experience, sweet or otherwise. We human beings have become spiritually short sighted in the sense that we limit our earthly existence to only one earth life. If we shift the points backwards, we may discover the origins of many of todays event, say, hundreds or thousands of years ago. It is, therefore not an accident when we meet and relate with people we may think we had never known or experience event we may think we do not deserve to experience.

    In the interim, we must recognise that the girls who have agreed to step out of Sambisa forest may be crumbled by the forces of society their new identity may attract to them. Afterall, many years after his marriage, the age difference between President-elect Macron and his wife continue to excite the French media.

    That is why I proposed elsewhere that these girls be sponsored by the government to go abroad on a rehabilitation programme of about five years after re-union with their families. This should cover cost of their education, for those who wish to further their studies or learn any trade. Some people say this is an unnecessary waste of scarce funds. I doubt if they would think so if their daughters are involved. I have no daughter but I feel their experience to the bone marrow. If the government bows to these hawks, can private Nigerians not sponsor this project?

    I imagine that a massive campaign can yield a harvest of about 500,000 Nigerians who, paying, say, N500 every month can muster N250 million for this project. The truth, unfortunately, is that the Nigerian society has become lame. It doesn’t fight for anything, anymore. In my days as a University student in the 1970s, students would have stormed the houses in which large sums of money have been stored away to the detriment of the economy. Maybe, the style of society has changed from physical activism to fighting in words and thought forms. Maybe not. My neighbour who lives in England says poor people in the United Kingdom always freed themselves from the yoke of the rich through activism. For example, a law was passed in 1951 (the footh path law) which limits the size of land the rich can acquire in certain areas. The rich had become so rich there was hardly any limit to their reach in society. For example, one may acquire such vast hectrages of land that the poor had no short cuts routes from one part of a neighbourhood to another. Geometry teaches that a straight line is the shortest distance between two points. Imagine a triangle with points A, B and C with median landmarks between A and B at AB, and A and C at AC.

    In pre-footh path law days, a man walking from point AB to point AC would have to walk from point AB to A and from A to AC or from AB to B and B to C and then C to AC. But with the footh path law, owners of large tracts of land became legally obliged to create footh paths in large tracts such that pedestrians could cut short their Israelite’s Journey with, for example, straight line movement from AB to AC.

    In our midst, Chibok girls may become depressed, apathetic, sorrowful, angry, fearful, recluses and a wasted people. They, like their parents, guardians and friends, should be aware of the SONGS OF EXPERIENCE the society will be singing all around them, and kit themselves up for battle. They will need psychologists to firm up their minds, and nutrition to make their brains and nerves impregnable by pressure from the SONGS OF EXPERIENCE.

     

    Depression

    If, inwardly, one is unable to equalise the pressure of intruding forces and repel them, depression of the soul or spirit which many people call the mind may occur. And depression may lead to a host of other problems. Apathy is one of them. It is linked to insufficiency of a neurotransmitter in the brain called DOPAMINE which can be obtained from food sources such as Noni juice or food supplements such as MOOD SUPPORT or BEHAVIOUR BALANCE. Dopamine helps us to be happy, active, forward looking and stable.  As the spirit is repressed in a deficiency state of dopamine, it feels like doing nothing. It is like losing interest not only in the surroundings but in life and living. The challenged person relapses into obsessive eating and sleep. Obsessive eating comes from damage to or alteration of the chemistry of cells in the brain which advise us that our system is full of food, and we do not need to pump more food into it. This situation may arise from the infusion of negative energy into the cells. Depression and apathy lead to sorrow, hate, irritability, anger and the likes of them. These emotions, generated in the spirit, link up to power centers of their kinds in the world unseen and unfelt with the five physical senses. Having linked up, the challenged person becomes like an electrical appliance connected to the mains, imbued, in the case of a human being, with negative energy. Negative energy chases away or obstructs the inflow of positive energy. Negative energy represses the immune system, cellular functions and health and supports proliferation of germs. Thus, depression and apathy may cause hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism, conditions in which the thyroid gland underfunctions or overworks. Underfunctioning leads to sleepiness, indigestion, weight gains, low blood pressure, goitre and about 200 diseases linked with hypothyroidism, including chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, a condition of pain in the muscles, tendons, bone and surrounding tissues. Hyperthyroidism, on the other hand, literally burns up the body, triggering such conditions as hyperactivity, rapid heart beats (tachycardia) or palpitations, leaness, excessive sweating under high-tension metabolism and even bulgy eyeballs (Graves disease).

    Obsessive eating and weight gains can be checked with high fibre foods. I have observed it well checked with herbs, such as Garcinia cambogia. Traditionally, this fruit is used to make meals more filling, reduce desire to over-eat and block fats being made in the body. One tablet of this fruit taken one to three times daily help to reduce food intake to about once or twice a day. With this goes the possibility of checking high blood cholesterol and fatty liver. This is a dangerous condition in which the liver is filled with fats that it can hardly function well. Fats easily become rotten in the body in the absence of antioxidants active in the fat medium. Fats which rot in the liver may predispose it to infections, hardening (cirrhosis) and even cancer. There are many other fat burners available to us. Some of these are Lecithin, Choline and Inositol, Apple cider vinegar, Garlic et.c.

    In some depressed people, sleep can become an issue. They may lack melatonin, the neuro-transmitter the brain converts to Serotonin, which gets us to sleep. Melatonin supplementation in the diet may not help people who have enough of it but may not be able to convert it to serotonin. Every insomniac has to find out the cause of his or her condition and address it. Calcium and Magnesium help some cases. So do Lecithin, Omega-3 oil (DHA), GABA and herbs such as vervain, valerian root, hops, lettuce et.c.

    Apathy is the nut to crack in depression. The victim is like a seed planted in the soil which fails to grow. The seed kernel is blessed with nutrients.  In the soil, friction of all sorts is meant to make it break through its protective coats, feed itself from its food reserve, grow roots to anchor itself in the soil, and find food, when the food reserve is exhausted, push pebbles, and soil aside and rise above the soil. This process is interesting. It should make us wonder about the concept of gravity. Science believes it is a force in the middle of the earth which pulls us down, preventing us from flying off into space. A counter opinion is that there is a force above which pushes everything down to its level of homogeneity. Thus, a seed that does not wish to grow becomes resident in the soil and decays there. That which expresses longing to live is helped up, to sprout, flower, fruit and fulfil the purpose of its existence. Man is like the seed. His kernel is the human spirit which is resident in the physical human body. The spirit is endowed with abilities which are meant to sprout flower and fruit so that the spirit can fulfil the purpose of its existence. If the spirit strives to live, it is helped upwards to regions of Life commensurate with the level or nature of its value or inner worth. That is why it is said that heaven helps those who help themselves. In apathy, the spirit is walled up, becomes gradually cold and lifeless, degenerates and rapidly approaches the end of its earth-life. If it is not helped, its blood radiations may so weaken that it may be possessed by earth-bound disembodied souls, often the source of auto-suggestions and suicide thoughts.

    This should not be the fate of Chibok girls. They remind me of the pathetic situation of two Moroccan girls in the 1970s or 80s. They were born in England and were British citizens. There parents did not want them to marry outside Morocco. So, they tricked their daughters home on a false holiday to Morocco. The girls were happy to know their father land and to meet their relations. Their parents disappeared overnight to England, after taken away from them their British passport. The local Chief came for them and handed them over to husbands agreed with their parents. It took about three years for British reporter searching for British citizens abducted in Morocco to discover these girls in a mountain range settlement. An Anglo-Moroccan diplomatic row broke out. Morocco agreed to release the girls but insisted on keeping their children, two on each side who were Moroccans. The girls could not abandon their children in Morocco and stuck to their captivity and damage dream. It is unlikely that Chibok girls will give up their children who would grow up someday also stigmatised like their mothers. We can all help in thought and deed to free the freed Chibok girls from the yolk of apathy.

  • Recession: Learning from Egyptian experience

    All eyes, Many readers of this column may be disappointed today and there is no apology for that. From various parts of the country, people have been calling or sending text messages or email, since last Monday, to ask yours sincerely to write today’s article on the raging controversial Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) law that is currently causing unnecessary brouhaha across Nigeria. However, having turned down the seemingly popular request, the onus is on me to explain why I refused to succumb to their pressure on that subject. As readers, they are kings and queens in their own rights just like customers in an open market. And they deserve to be so treated.

     

    The focus of ‘The Message’

    ‘The Message’ is an Islamic column which does not concern itself with a matter that is unrelated to Islam. The FRCN law currently in contention does not affect Islam because the Mosque is House of congregational worship which no Muslim can claim as a private property. If any Muslim claims to own a Mosque he should be called a thief. A Muslim may build a Mosque with his money. He may offer to bear the cost of maintaining a Mosque on his volition. But as soon as the Mosque is ready as a House of worship, it becomes a public property within the Muslim community.

    What can ‘The Message’ write on an idea that was initiated by a Nigerian professional body during the second republic in 1982 to serve as one of its organs for regulating the financial institutions in Nigeria? What can ‘The Message’ say now about how that organ became a subject of legislation in 2003, when Olusegun Obasanjo, a Christian, held sway as Nigeria’s President? What did the readers of this column expect ‘The Message’ to write about the enactment of that legislation into an act of parliament in 2011 when Goodluck Jonathan, another Christian was the President?

    The Mosque is not a family business that can be bequeathed to a son or a daughter. It is therefore not for Nigerian Muslims to jump into an unnecessary brouhaha over a law that concerns materialism much more than religion. Neither is it for them to ask ‘The Message’ to write on such an inconsequential subject. Currently, there are many crushing issues on the table in Nigeria. One of them is recession which concerns every Nigerian Christian or Muslim. And the concentration here today will be on that. Read on:

     

    The Egyptian experience

    Egypt, a North African Arab country was never a member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). She was not an oil producing country until recently. The main stay of her economy was agriculture which was well facilitated by her River Nile endowment. But of course the latter was backed up by the strategic Suez Canal that became a necessary need of all Western countries.

    This North African Arab country was in economic mess in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Her ravaging war with Israel had reduced her to a virtual beggar nation. Not only did her macro economy plummet, her micro economy also dwindled to the lowest ebb. No job for the rising army of highly skilful youths and no sources of income for the majority of the citizenry. Thus, the country looked like a famine- stricken one. The best residential houses were rented out to foreigners. And most vehicles on Cairo and Alexandra roads were terribly rickety at that time.

     

    Solution

    It took an ingenuous economic management by President Gamal Abdul Nasir and his successor, President Anwar Sadat to device a means of bailing out the country from what could have amounted to self-genocide. With the meagre amount of money accruing to the nation from agriculture and manpower export at that time, the government was able to set up a food distribution centre in each ward where every family in the ward was registered.

    All varieties of foods, including grains, wheat, meat, milk and eggs, were supplied to each family every week. And no family got less than what could suffice for one full week. The cost of those highly subsidised food were deducted from the salaries of those working while others were supplied free foods for survival. And to ensure that only the citizens benefited from the wonderful largess, the use of national identity card to qualify for supply was made compulsory.

     

    Security and patriotism

    This Islamic welfare business strategy did not only create a high sense of security in the citizenry it also spurred them to become die-hard patriots. With that strategy, Egypt was able to weather her economic storm of that time even as her war with Israel continued.

    What could have been a major problem for the ordinary Egyptians at that time was the education of their children. But President’s Nasir’s government had taken care of that since inception. A fundamental policy of the Egyptian government introduced by President Nasir in 1954 was free education at all levels. That policy which the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo adapted for primary education in western Nigeria a year later (1954) had put Egypt far ahead of all African and Arab countries. The policy was to put Egypt in good stead in later years when the going became economically tough.

     

    Reaping the benefit

    The country began to reap the benefit by supplying all other Arab countries with their needed man power such as teachers, doctors, Engineers, pilots, accountants, pharmacists, nurses, administrators and even drivers. Those experts were officially deployed to those other Arab countries on three years renewable contract. And each deployed expert was made to remit about 35 per cent of his/her income to the government of Egypt monthly. Such remittances were not difficult to make since those expert were well paid. The remittances were made directly by the employers who deducted the agreed amount from the salaries of their employees. Thus, in those days, manpower generated from planned education was more profitable than today’s oil wells. It is a confirmation that a well planned education is an investment like no other.

    Yet, countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, United Arab Emirates and others that benefited from the programme found the arrangements convenient because they did not need to employ interpreters separately as would have been the case if they had employed Americans, French, Germans and Italians for the same purpose. At least, based on Islamic principles, their languages and culture were almost the same.

     

    Social welfare

    With the provision of social welfare for the people, Egyptian government of the 1970s, led by Anwar Sadat after the demise of Gamal Abdel Nasir, was able to solve the problem of the three necessities of life: food, shelter and clothing. Not only that, the government was also very much aware that an idle hand was the devil’s workshop. It therefore provided soft loans for many university graduates to embark on small scale businesses that could boost the nation’s economy at the micro level.

    With this, it became possible for most of those fresh graduates to be self employed while aiming high to mount the economic ladder of life to the very top. Today, some of those businesses have grown into gigantic industries exporting their products to many countries, including Nigeria.

    If Egypt is not one of Africa’s poor countries today, it is because her government managed that nation’s meagre economy to the benefit of her ordinary citizens, despite several decades of war with Israel. Compared to the industrialised nations, Egypt may not be called a rich country now, but her preparation for the future seems to be assuring her of a front line economic position soon. Her unsurpassed investment on manpower through education is a confirmation of that.

     

    Industrialisation

    What obtains in Egypt equally obtains in most other Arab countries, especially those of the gulf. For instance, Saudi Arabia has always known that oil would not flow forever in her wells. Thus as far back as the 1970s, that country had diversified her economy by establishing two industrial cities of Yambu’ and Jubail, a project (commissioned in 1982) which the United states described as the most ambitious ever in the industrial history of mankind.

    Much more have since been put in place for the benefit of the future generations. And, travellers who have visited countries like Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria will confirm that the future of global wealth will definitely be in the Middle East courtesy of foresights of the above mentioned leaders. But the greatest assets of those countries are manpower which their free education programme is providing from primary schools through the university with impeccable foresight.

     

    Shameless deception

    Long before now, a promise of economic leap was made in respect of year 2000. That year came to pass without any effort made towards fulfilment. Then, another promise was made in respect of year 2010. That year also came to pass without any sign of seriousness on the part of the government even as Nigeria sank deeper into economic quagmire. Now it is the turn of year 2020 which will also come to pass in three years time. Haba! Is there no shame all for those running the government in Nigeria? The speedy economic train of the modern time waits for no crawling nation like Nigeria.

     

    Blind trust

    Long before the West came to know anything about the term “blind trust” at all, Islam had educated the Muslims in details on that subject. The great religion had foreseen the possibility of manipulating this term to the advantage of the exploiters in certain societies and, had thus, forbidden it.

    In Islamic jurisprudence, “blind trust” simply means the transaction of business illegally between a seller and a buyer to the detriment of either of them. In this case, the buyer or seller may be an individual or a group. “Blind trust” is like a coin with two sides. In it, either the seller or the buyer can cheat. An example is a situation where a product is sold in a wrap without allowing the buyer to examine what he wants to buy before paying. This may occur in any sector of the economy. In agriculture for instance, it is forbidden to sell tubers like yam and cassava without uprooting them. Such a business is often done on a mere assumption, thereby putting either the seller or the buyer at a great risk and disadvantage.

     

    Varieties of blind trust

    Blind trust may also occur in an ordinary market of quantity grains like rice, beans, millet, bally salt or groundnuts where and when the instrument of measure is manipulated with the intention of reducing the quantity of its contents while receiving the payment in full. Also, selling wrapped dresses or textile materials without indicating their sizes, yardage or fault may amount to “blind trust”. Even, those who engage in the sale of electronics without allowing the buyers to test the products before paying are trading in “blind trust”, which is illegal in Islam. In a nutshell, any business that entails some elements of doubt and does not allow for transparency is “blind trust” prohibited in Islam. And, anybody who is engaged in such a business is deemed to be a criminal.

     

    In retrospect

    It must be remembered that the people of Madyan (Median) whose Prophet was Shuayb, faced with the wrath of Allah and became perished because of “blind trust”

    In modern times, the term “blind trust” has been given a new connotation through a new manipulation. Not only is the chain of business deliberately being elongated to allow for more middlemen to allow for unnecessary inflation, the sale and purchase of public shares on behalf of some people without the knowledge of those people is being treated as a legitimate norm in capitalism. And that is the haven of corruption in Nigeria.

    Today, if corruption does not wear the garb of ethnicity, it would robe in the garment of religion. When will this come to an end?

  • Heineken unveils pop-up experience centres

    Heineken unveils pop-up experience centres

    Heineken has introduced pop-up experience centres for consumers to replace Heineken House Lagos. The new centres will enable it extend its viewing experience across major cities in the country.

    Heineken, which sponsors the UEFA Champions League, made the announcement at the ‘One Last Time’ party, it held in Lagos.

    “The Heineken House Lagos is widely known and well regarded. The House has over the years become a true evidence of the level of comfort Heineken offers to its consumers. However, the Heineken House Lagos will now be replaced by several Heineken pop-up experience centers in major cities in Nigeria,” Senior Brand Manager, Heineken, Ngozi Nkwoji said.

    She described the pop-up experience centers as an extension of Heineken’s desire to ensure that the premium experience is enjoyed by its consumers across the country.

    The Heineken House Lagos, the first Champions Planet in Africa, was the premium home of new exciting experiences and conviviality as it offered visitors, business leaders and influential personalities an opportunity to enjoy matches while building new relationships. The ‘One Last Time’ party was held to celebrate these experiences the Heineken House provided for fans of the UCL over the years.

  • Rivers United’s Asekunowo amazed by Spain experience

    Rivers United’s Asekunowo amazed by Spain experience

    Rivers United defender, Ayobami Asekunowo has admitted that he has learnt a lot in Spain but noted there aren’t much changes.

    “The training tour of Spain is an amazing experience for the entire squad. The facilities here are top notch and their approach is very professional,” Aseknuowo told Goal.

    “We are doing very fine despite the cold here, our next match is on Monday. There isn’t much difference compared to Nigeria however, the weather here is something else, it’s really cold. The facilities here are amazing.

    “The exposure for the team doesn’t come better than this, it has in a way built our confidence level and also exposed us to new ideas. It’s an interesting tour which we shall forever be grateful for,” Ayobami Asekunowo told Goal.

  • Etisalat opens Samsung experience centre

    Etisalat opens Samsung experience centre

    Etisalat has launched a Samsung Experience Zone within the Etisalat Experience Centre in Adeola Odeku, Victoria Island, Lagos.

    The telecoms giant and Samsung West Africa unveiled the first of many Samsung Experience Zones, which it aims to launch in major Etisalat Experience Centres, across the country.

    Etisalat Nigeria,Vice President, Marketing, Adebisi Idowu, said the initiative was borne out of the need to enrich the experience of customers on the network.

    He expressed delight at the partnership, applauding the two global brands for building a mutually benefitting relationship since the telecoms firms started operations in Nigeria.

    Also, Samsung West Africa Managing Director, Paul Lee, described the Experience Zone as a breakthrough platform that empowers customers to use innovation and technology to improve their standard of living.

  • THE NOLLYWOOD-TIFF EXPERIENCE

    WHEN the TIFF City-to-City programme started in 2009, its inaugural choice, Tel Aviv, was met with criticism by a section of the country being spotlighted. They accused the festival organizers of being embroiled in Israeli propaganda because of the turmoil in the Middle East. In protest, a director, John Greyson had withdrawn his film, ‘Covered’ from the festival.

    Despite the political and economic situation in Nigeria, none of the eight films; ’76 by Izu Ojukwu; ’93 Days by Steve Gukas; ‘Green White Green’ by Abba Makama; ‘Just Not Married’ by Uduak-Obong Patrick;  ‘Okafor’s Law’ by Omoni Oboli and ‘Oko Ashewo’ (Taxi Driver) by Daniel Emeke Oriahi selected from Nigeria has political undertone, and thus Nollywood grabbed the opportunity with both hands.

    Even ’76, the riveting drama set against the backdrop of the attempted 1976 military coup against the then government of General Murtala Mohammed is subtle in its angle and had the full support of the Nigerian Army as attested by director Izu Ojukwu. Also, 93 Days by Steve Gukas also celebrates the conquest of Lagos and Nigeria over the Ebola virus, Abba Makama’s ‘Green White Green’, albeit an arty film, x-rays Nigeria to the world in shades and colours that are more celebratory than controversial. Other films play up the social aura with dint of comedy that makes for great entertainment.

  • Chesney: Using technology to enhance customers’ experience

    Chesney: Using technology to enhance customers’ experience

    The owner of Chesney Hotels Lagos, Mr Ken Obinna, has said the hotel “is using modern technology to enhance customers’ experience and in the process, its customers have been taken to a new level of experience”.

    According to him, the use of technology to enhance costumers’ experience is noteworthy, and this shows   from the gate, where cars are checked with an inspection mirror, through the revolving doors, to the lounge where separate buttons indicate what particular service you want from the barman, and the ultra-modern elevator as well as the air purifiers on every floor.

    The  rooms , he said,  come in nice brown shades, with the touch of deep red. The décor also draws inspiration from different African cultures. On the walls in the passages can be found pictures and paintings of various heros, from Martin Luther to Barack Obama and Lionel Messi.

    The lampshades by the bed are both aesthetic and functional, with the light switch conveniently placed on the board above the bed.

    Other pluses include a wide range of channels, seamless power switch over, competitive pricing for drinks and superfast room service. Apparently, Chesney places a lot of importance on quality as well as the speed of delivery of food.

    According to the hotel’s business service manager, MalvinOkorafor, Chesney has kept pulling in new guests with food. “Everything here is made fresh, despite meals being delivered in no time,”he said.

    The a-la-carte menu options include English or Nigerian breakfast, beef, chicken, seafood and vegetarian, burgers, sandwiches and pizza. Then there’s the special Nigerian menu which includes ofada rice, boli (roasted plantain), asaro (yam porridge, beans porridge, dundu (parboiled fried yam) and the full complement of Nigerian soups (efo riro, egusi, ogbono, afang, bitter leaf, oha and white soup).

    According to Okorafor, most of the hotel’s guests are corporate clients. This is by design; the hotel’s calm setting is ideal for businesspeople. For example, there are no live bands or themed nights and music is low whenever it’s played.

    He said the hotel  has ultra-modern conferencing facilities for meetings and presentations. This and the management’s flexibility and personalised service ensure it is rapidly becoming a favourite for discerning corporate guests and individuals with cherished world-class quality in a peaceful environment.

    The synthetic grass at the Chesney garden that leads to the crystal clear swimming pool is just one of the many attributes that show what the Chesney Hotel on Saka Tinubu, Victoria Island, is all about.

    The 50-room hotel is one of the modern hotels in Lagos giving international brands a run for their money. As many insiders in the tourism and hospitality industry know, Lagos has some catching up to do when it comes to offering international standard hotel rooms which  apart from costs incurred from generating their own power  is a major reason for the high prices hotel rooms command.

  • ‘Ondo needs governor with business experience’

    ‘Ondo needs governor with business experience’

    Dr. Olusegun Abraham is a governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ondo State. He spoke with Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU on his chances at the primary and preparations for the election.

    How are you warming up for the primary?

    I am warming up very well and things are turning out positively. The whole state has been receptive to my ambition. The response from the grassroots, right from the ward level, has been positive. We set out some months ago. I started my tour of the wards some months ago. No aspirant has traversed the length and breath of the state as I have done. There are some of them that have not been able to do what I have done. The response has been very okay. I am popular in the party at the local, state and national level and people look forward to my emergence.

    What transpired at the screening of aspirants?

    We were informed about the guidelines for the screening. They looked at what we submitted, our credential and they asked some few questions. They asked from us: apart from you, who else do you think can be the governor? These were some of the questions they asked from us.

    Could you shed light on the rumours and denial of rumours of endorsement, in respect of your ambition?

    There have been endorsements in Akoko. In fact, the endorsement cuts across the state. Many things are responsible for this. The Akoko youths realised that, in the last 15 years, I have been assisting them educationally, in terms of school fees, meeting their educational expenses, giving them scholarship. I have been setting up small businesses for the less privileged in the society. I have given scholarship to over 200 people. I have assisted some people to go to school overseas and paid their school fees. Youths and their parents have benefitted from these programmes. When the university authority in Akungba actually sent people packing; some of them were to lose a session or semester for not being able to pay N15,000, I came to their aid. I assisted those who could not pay across the local governments. The endorsement by the Akoko youths is gratifying. When the youths begin to do that, you will know the result. people are happy that somebody is coming to this state who will not steal their money.

    What are your core plans for the state?

    When you look at the problem of Nigerian and Ondo State in particular, you discover that they are two and the two cannot be separated. These are the questions of economy and integrity. Because people don’t have integrity these days, we have lost virtues, we have lost values, we have lost conscience and this has led to corruption. Ondo State is becoming a desert. All the monies that came to Ondo State have been siphoned. They only have cosmetic projects. That is because there is no integrity, and because there is no integrity, there is no value, there is no virtue. You can see that the problem has become more complicated. They can’t add value and the money from Abuja, they siphon it.

    On the economic problem, the state has not been privileged to have a businessman in the saddle who can use business discipline, business acumen and international connection to turn its economy around, to turn the opportunities into productive activities, so that we can earn more revenue, so that the state can be bouyant and prosperous.

    These are the two goals. Other things flow from them. When we are talking about the economy, we are talking about industrialisation. Every local government should have at least on small scale business that will engage the youths and women. The infrastructures in Akure are completely dead. There is pressure on the infrastructure. They cannot cope because everybody moves from the village to the urban centres. Every village is associated with a particular industry in a country like China. The same thing we are bringing to Ondo State. These industries will be set up with the raw materials there. We will train the youths there so that they can be productive.

    The world is now a global village. Our local areas are part of this global village. Whatever is produced here can be used in America and other places. If a cleaner in America works in three hours, the salary is more than the eight naira minimum wage that Nigeria is taking. We must develop our economic activities. A professor in Nigeria may not be able to earn what it takes to feed a dog in America. This must be reversed. The only way is to develop our economic activities and return to values, virtues and good leadership. If I say yes, it must be yes. If I say good morning, it must be morning. There are some people, if they say good morning, yiu must look at your wrist watch before you answer.

    You send your driver to buy fuel, he tries to shortchange you. You get to the filling station, the attendant wants to shortchange you. You can’t develop an economy like that. So, integrity and economy are interwoven. The two are inseparable. Today, Buhari is fighting corruption. Thirty years ago, he fought corruption. When he left, nobody to talk about value and virtues again. That’s why anybody can come to Ondo State and divert half of the money meant for education, health and road and think that he is smart. Today, we are a laughing stock across the globe. That’s why Trump was talking to us like that. people are always stealing in Nigeria.

    What are your plans for education, health and other infrastructures?

    We will revive our education system. We will have a productive education system. We now have certificated institutions; academic people. We have a polytechnic in Owo. It should contribute more to the economy of Ondo State. It should be able to design many things. We will have education without walls. We are going to break the walls. Our educational institutions must meet the needs of the society. Education is about knowledge. If you have knowledge and it is not relevant to the society, it is useless. We should be able to apply knowledge in an appropriate manner.

    We are going to look at health in a holistic manner. It is divided into two. We are going to look at the preventive health care system. Then, we will introduce curative health care system. What you have in Nigeria today is the curative health system. When somebody is ill, you take him to the hospital and you begin to treat him. We will like to prevent illness starting from the food the people eat, their lifestyles, what they must do to make them healthy. We don’t want our people to go through pain. We don’t want our people to lose the productive man-hour.

    We are going to look at the infrastructural system. We will develop our infrastructure, using our local materials. We will reduce the capital flight. Some roads will be done by expatriates. Some roads will be done by our people. We will use the raw materials we have to develop our state. We will invite investors. Investors don’t just come. They come when they know that there is a market for their products. So, we create markets for them.

    We will focus on agriculture. We don’t need fertilizers to grow our agricultural products. Our soil is not polluted with fertilizers. If it is not polluted with fertilizers, then, we can produce organic foods. Organic food is three times more expensive than the normal food. We have the cargo airport that is lying idle. We will use it to export our farm produce so that our farmers can earn dollars. Some people in the civil service will even want to resign to become international farmers. We have a big advantage we can explore. I am not a professional politician. I am a professional in politics. I am an entrepreneur in politics.

    The spirit of enterprise is in me. When I see stone, I see money, granite. When I see weed, I see money. I see money littered on the way. I see the waste her as an incomplete process that can become money. It can be converted to toiletries, fertilizers. We need to change the syllabus of our universities. I read Technology Management. We will change the orientation of our ministries and promote inter-connectivity. Our civil servants have initiatives. We will drive them. We must wage war against corruption.

    The corrupt people have destroyed our youths. Instead of using the money to build industries, they waste the money. We have unemployment and under-employment. We will also try to secure the environment to prevent crime. I am not going there to make money. I am for the upliftment of the people financially and spiritually. If you love your neighbour, you will not steal the money meant for the development of the state. I don’t think people who have stolen millions and billions from the public treasury should have human rights. Do you know how many people have died through that singular action?

    It is your second attempt at seeking the position. How would you rate the process now?

    In 2012, I was working. I was popular. The thing was not zoned to me. I said it was not yet time appointed by God. When they decided in 2012, I was smiling. People asked why I was smiling. I told them it was not yet my time. I believe that power belongs to God. I said God, if you will give me power, give me power so that I can impact on the people; that God should give me power in such a way that it will not destroy my soul so that I can make heaven. I did not want power at all cost. I want to be the governor who has the attributes of God; patience and love. Nigerians should follow the path the successful countries have followed. All I want is the success of our party and the progress of our state.

    Have you been interacting with other aspirants?

    We are talking. We are relating. We crack jokes. We talk regularly. God will make us succeed in life and give us prosperity. We are all qualified. It is a big responsibility we want to shoulder. There is a desire to lead. Not everybody can be governor at the same time. But, we can all serve in different capacities at the same time. Everybody is a building block. Each block has a position. In abroad, you see a driver calling the manager by his name. The driver and the manager sit together. They play complementary roles. Everybody has a duty that is essential and special. All the aspirants, we are equal. God has destined for everybody what he will do.

    What do you expect the leadership of the party to do to guarantee a hitch-free primary?

    The leaders have experienced. They formed the party. They fund the party. They have been holding primaries. Ondo will not be an exception. We should trust the leaders that they will do what is right. We should learn from them. We can only make some suggestions.

    Can an APC candidate from Akoko/Owo axis beat a PDP candidate from Akure?

    These are camouflages. In Akure, you see the people of Akoko, Ondo, Idanre, Ekiti, and others. It is a wrong calculation and we are happy.

    What is your advice to the INEC in respect of the inconclusive elections?

    We must look at the causes. I have not seen anybody jailed for electoral malpractices. The laws should take its course. They are not for decorations. The INEC must prepare. They must be upright. They must promote integrity.

  • Nigerians ‘ll soon experience better times, says minister

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,  yesterday said the Federal Government was working diligently toward making life more meaningful for Nigerians through carefully designed projects.

    Mohammed spoke in Lagos at the 8th Alhaji Kafaru Tinubu Memorial Ramadan Lecture, with the theme: “Supreme Sacrifice and the Essence of Followership in Governance’’.

    He said the government was aware of the plight of many citizens due to the challenges in the economy.

    According to him, a N500 billion Social Intervention Programme has been put in place to help alleviate poverty.

    The minister said the huge money earmarked for the intervention programme in the 2016 budget was one of the sacrifices the government had to make in the face of falling revenue.

    “This government is making a lot of sacrifices and it is also expecting a lot of sacrifices from the people.

    “The N500 billion Social Intervention Programme which is broken into five parts covers employment of 500, 000 unemployed graduates who will be trained as teachers.

    “It also covers the employment of 100, 000 artisans as well as the One-Meal-A-Day programme for pupils in primary schools.

    “The Enterprise Scheme which is targeted at one million market men and women, 460, 000 artisans, 200, 000 agriculture workers is also covered in the programme.

    “It also covers the N5,000 monthly conditional cash transfer to the poor and vulnerable,’’ he said.

    Mohammed dismissed some media reports that some states claimed they were not ready for the A-Meal-A-Day programme due to funding challenges.

    He emphasised that the federal government was solely responsible for the funding of the programme.

    According to him, the pilot scheme of the programme has started and it will cover 5.5 million pupils when fully on stream.

    The minister also advised Muslims to uphold the lessons of Ramadan by shunning vices and making sacrifices for others and the nation.

    In his lecture, Prof. Ahmid Sanni, Chief Imam, Lagos State University, said that the virtue of sacrifice was beyond prayers and fasting.

    According to him, it also requires the show of love and care to the less privileged in the society.

  • ‘Customer experience key to business success’

    ‘Customer experience key to business success’

    Etisalat Nigeria has reiterated its commitment to quality customer experience. It said it is also committed to continuous development of innovative products and services in its effort to offer customers on its network more value for money.

    Its Director, Brands and Experience, Elvis Ogiemwanye, gave the assurance  during the Abuja leg of its regional Customer Forum, an interactive gathering that enables the telco to have direct engagement with customers to exchange ideas, discuss areas of improvement as well as provide feedback on the services of the company.

    Ogiemwanye said the forum is a feedback platform that enables the telco to improve its operations and develop more innovative products and services. He added that the forum demonstrates the value the firm places on its customers and commitment to excellent customer experience.

    “We place a lot of value on our customers, because our customers remain at the heart of our business. That is why we hold this forum in different regions to engage with our customers, get their feedback on our products and services and improve on them based on the feedback we have gathered. Through this customer forum we are able to identify things we are doing right and the areas we should improve on,” he said.

    Also speaking at the event, its Director, Customer Service, Plato Syrimis, said the revamped easy-to-use self-help mobile application, EasyMobile App is one of the most recent innovative solutions that the company introduced as a result of feedback from Etisalat customers.

    One of the customers present at the event, Dotun Oyebanji, commended the telco for providing subscribers across Nigeria with good network coverage and excellent customer service.