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  • Tinubu: Ondo primary will be free, fair

    Tinubu: Ondo primary will be free, fair

    •‘No undue influence on the process’

    All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader Asiwaju Bola Tinubu spoke yesterday on the impending Ondo State governorship primary, promising that it will be free and fair.

    In a letter to an aspirant, Dr Tunji Abayomi, Tinubu said the party would hold a credible and transparent primary devoid of undue influence.

    “The candidate, who can garner the most support and votes will win”, Tinubu said, adding: “My dear friend I leave you free to run and win the primary. If you win, I shall congratulate you and support  you in the general election. However, you must respect my rights as well and leave me to my own conscience to support who I will support. And to show interest in whom I wish”.

    The letter reads:

    “It is said that to err is human. By your letter to me, it seems that you seek to remind me that I am human.  Of this, I am constantly reminded. I know I have made my share of mistakes. But my progressive inclination remains firmly rooted. However, by your pained and inaccurate letter, you have proven that you are human too.

    “You have been a friend and will continue to be. Thus, I can dispense with needless formality so that we can get to the crux of the issue. Your career is that of a lawyer and activist. I appreciate all that you have done in the pursuit of a more just and democratic Nigeria.

    However, your letter to me is an impetuous display unbecoming a man of your status and a man seeking the highest leadership position in his state. And as a lawyer, you well know that one cannot seek equity without having done equity.

    In writing the letter, you appear to have been bitten by a bug that often blinds the objectivity of a man. You have been bitten by an ambition that you fear you shall not be able to realise.

    “In your pursuit of office, you have sought my support and influence. When you sought that support, you thought it proper and democratic to do so. If I had signalled my support for you, I am sure that you would never have written this letter alleging that I was undermining the democratic will of the people. You would have been pleased with me, I suppose.

    “However, because that support has not been forthcoming, you fear that the support you wanted may now go to a rival candidate. In your judgment, my support for you would have been democratic. Should I support another, then that same support is now to be considered dictatorial and unfair.

    “Frankly, dear friend, I do not see the objectivity in your analysis or the merit in what you claim as your injury. If you seek a person’s support, you cannot in good conscience turn around and object that such support should never be given to another person. Your position is more undemocratic and unfair than what you accuse me of. Your words attack me for being undemocratic when in reality, your heart attacks me for not giving you what you want.

    “I have participated in elections for decades for myself and others. Some have been won. Some lost. Never, however, have I asked a friend for support than condemn for giving the very support I sought of them to another person. To do so is not to stand on principle but on bruised pride.

    “You said I seek to deny your democratic right. It is you who seek to grab mine. If not mistaken, I believe I am a member of the APC. I have a right and duty to support the candidate who I believe will best represent the party. What your letter is really saying is that if I don’t support you, I should keep my mouth shut. You complain of a purported meeting I had to discuss the coming primary in Ondo. Do you deny me and other APC members now the right to assembly and talk. Had you heard that the meeting had anointed you, I doubt you would have written the first word of the letter you sent to me.

    But here I want to give you and others a clear assurance that you may rest more at ease. I reserve the right to support any candidate I wish because no one has the right to take this away from me. However, I will also do everything in my power to ensure the primaries are free and fair and that there will be no undue influence on the process. The candidate who can garner the most support and votes will win. Since its inception, the APC has run the cleanest and most transparent primaries in the history of this nation. The just-concluded primary in Edo is further evidence of this.

    My dear friend, I leave you free to run and win the primary. If you do, I shall congratulate you and support you in the general election.

    “However, you must respect my rights as well and leave me to my own conscience to support who I will support. And to show interest in whom I wish.

    “I also need to correct what appears to be a mistaken impression on your part about the 2015 election. Your letter seems to indicate that it was on your advice that I backed President Buhari. You assume too much credit and should be more guarded in your assertions.  “As a veteran in the political arena, I do not make important decisions lightly.  I make final political decisions and calculations on my own after deep reflections and consultation with many people from many perspectives.  I can assure you dear friend that I trust my own political counsel more than yours and that I have numerous other advisors whose advice I weigh more than yours.

    “After all, had you so much influence over me in the presidential election, it would mean you surely should have greater influence over me when it comes to the primary in your state.

    “I do appreciate your passion and concern for the welfare of the people. Yet, you are not the only one who feels this. The love of the people is not exclusive to you, Tunji. My entire life has been devoted to the betterment of the people and of this nation. Lagos is a much better place because of what we have tried to do and I pray that it will be better still.

    “Many worked hard and long and sacrificed much, even more than you, to bring in the new Federal Government. We did not do this as sport but to improve the lives of the people. You need not lecture me about the plight of the people. Their right to a better life is what motivates me. I do not doubt your love for the people and this nation. Yet, you have no right to doubt mine for you do not love this people and this place more than I do. Of that, I can assure you.

    “I am a democrat. I am ready for the chips to fall where they may after an open and fair primary in Ondo. Instead of welcoming this, it appears you are afraid of it. Instead of fighting me, who is but one man with no vote, you should be fighting for votes and support. Your letter to me was woefully misplaced and inappropriate. Still, I wish you the best and may democracy and the people’s will prevail above all else.”

  • Firm unveils free airtime app

    Global leader in providing telecom and social media solutions, Kirusa, has launched myGenie app, a revolutionary free airtime App for prepaid Android users in Nigeria.

    The myGenie app lets Android users explore and download new and popular Android apps. myGenie users are rewarded with free airtime credits for downloading, installing, and using these Android apps. They can use the free credits to recharge their mobile numbers, or gift the airtime credits to their friends and family. What’s more, myGenie also provides free airtime credits when a user invites their friends to the app, and when their friends start downloading apps via myGenie.

    The apps that can be downloaded through myGenie range from games to dating to local utility apps. Some of the apps available on myGenie at the time of launch include InstaVoice, 474Recharge, Zamba Caller, APUS Launcher, Super B Clearer, BBM, UC Browser, and more.

    Robert Masumbuko, Head Financial Inclusion of African Development Bank said: “We are excited about myGenie App being launched in Nigeria.  African mobile app developers will now have the opportunity to reach out to a wider audience and get assured usage of their apps. It will also influence app usage market, thereby opening doors for fresh investments in this sector.”

    AnyanwuJonnasObinna, Head of Content Partnership in TwinPine said, “myGenie is a disruptive innovation in the mobile advertising space. We hope that it will carve out a new market for the App developers and support them in reaching their customers in more efficient ways than before.”

    David Kruyt, App Owner, 474Recharge App, said: “myGenie is a new way of promoting the app developer community. It is a simple way to reach out and get the app campaigns organised.  The most exciting part is that myGenie helps in usage and retention of the apps by incentivising customers in Nigeria, making it a win-win for both app developers and customers.”

    Inderpal Singh Mumick, CEO of Kirusa, shared on the launch, “Our vision is to grow the mobile ecosystem, and to fuel entrepreneurship in Nigeria, by creating a platform for the local app developers to reach out to their customers in a seamless manner, by assisting them in their app promotion efforts.”

  • Oshiomhole assures aspirants of free, fair primary

    Oshiomhole assures aspirants of free, fair primary

    Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has assured governorship aspirants on the All Progressives Congress (APC) platform that tomorrow’s primary will be free, fair and devoid of violence.

    Speaking at a meeting with the aspirants at the Government House, Benin City, Oshiomhole said: “As the Chief Security Officer of the state, every step will be taken to ensure that there is no violence; and there will be no violence by the special grace of God, because our party does not include violence in its method.

    “There will be enough security, and anybody going into the arena will not be able to carry any offensive weapon. That I can assure you; it is not a place for supporters’ club. It is a venue for delegates polling. Perhaps, the only exemption will be those who are not delegates, but who are aspirants. I believe by reason of their delegation, they are entitled to be there. The same goes for their approved agents. I believe there are rules guiding the exercise, having been involved in election primaries.”

    He added: “I assure you I will work with security agencies to ensure that anybody whose purpose of coming to the stadium that day is to foment trouble will be arrested and, if convicted, will spend some time in Oko or any other location. We have a duty to stand by the motto of our party, which is ‘Change’: change for good. It does not include violence as an instrument of change.”

    Reacting to the allegation of inducement of delegates, the governor said: “As for the allegation of people spending money, the truth is like what they said in the Bible: who will cast the first stone? Of the seven of you here seated, how many can put his hand on the Bible and say, I have not induced delegates with money?”

  • We cannot be free until they are free

    The name Sir Henry Urmston Willink (1894-1973) does not ring a bell in the modern day Nigeria. It was not so about 59 years ago.

    Sir Willink was a British politician and public servant. He rose to be British Minister of Health from 1943-1945. He later became Vice-Chancellor University of Cambridge between 1953 and 1955. His papers are held till today at the Churchill College Cambridge.

    On September 2,1957,Sir Abubakar TafawaBalewa(1912-1966) deputy leader of the NPC and Federal Minister of Transport was appointed Nigeria’s First Prime Minister by the then second Governor General of Nigeria, Sir James Wilson Robertson(1899-1983) who served from June 15 1955 to November 16 1960.

    On September 26 1957 the British government appointed Willink to chair a commission to inquire into the fears of Nigerian minorities and means of allaying them. The commissioners arrived in Lagos on November 23, 1957 and between that date and April 12, 1958 they held public sittings and had private meetings and discussions in each region, in Lagos and in the Southern Cameroons.  They returned to London on April 12, 1958.

    In its report published on July 30, 1958, the Commission stated that although real fears existed in every region, it was satisfied that setting new states would create problems as great as those they sought to eliminate.” In every region, the fears expressed were of a government based on a tribal, or in the North a religious, majority. Rightly or wrongly, it was feared that the regional governments, secure in their majority, would not be ready to respond to criticisms or to meet the wishes of the minorities”.

    Other members of the commission were Gordon Hadow, Phillip Mason, J.B. Shearer while K. J. Hilton served as the secretary. The commission published 108 pages for its conclusions and recommendations.

    The Willink recommended as follows: “We were impressed in both the Western and Eastern Regions, with the special position of the people, mainly Ijaw, in the swampy country along the coast between Opobo and the mouth of the Benin Rivers. We were confronted, first, with their own almost universal view that their difficulties were not understood at headquarters in the interior, where those responsible thought of the problems in quite different forms from those they assumed in those riverine areas; secondly, with the widespread desire of the Ijaws on either side of the main stream of the Niger to be united. We cannot recommend political arrangements which would unite in one political unit the whole body of Ijaws; we do however consider that their belief that their problems are not understood could be largely met without the creations of a separate state which have rejected for the reasons mentioned elsewhere. 27- This is a matter which requires a special effort and the co-operation of the Federal, Eastern and Western Government; it does not concern one region only. Not only because the area involves two regions, but because it is poor, backward and neglected, is the whole of Nigeria concerned. We suggest that there should a Federal Board appointed to consider the problems of the area of the Niger Delta. In this we would include the Rivers Province without Aboada or Port Harcourt and would add the Western Ijaw Division…”.

    “We do not contemplate that the Board should carry out the works which it recommends; this would be left to the Regional Government(except in the case of exclusively Federal schemes) and the annual report of the Board would include a report on actual progress. We consider that this arrangement should be temporary and it should be the object of the Board to conclude its work within ten or twelve years when provision for development had gone far enough to make it possible for this arrangement to be abandoned….Our proposal would provide some financial inducement to the Regional Government, but its sole ultimate sanction is the working of the domestic machine and the value of votes; it is more likely to be successful if there is such a balance in the Federal House of Representatives that every seat is of importance. The declaration of the Ijaw country as a Special Area would direct public attention to a neglected tract and give the Ijaws an opportunity of putting forward plans of their own for improvement. It would be difficult for either Government to justify to the electorate either a blank refusal to accept a plan recommend by the Board or a failure to implement an accepted plan; in this, as in all our recommendations, we assume a desire to continue with democratic institutions; it is on this assumption that all the steps leading to independence are based.”

    These were part of the suggestion by Willink commission.

    It should be noted that the first discovery of oil in Nigeria in-bloc OML 29 onshore at Oloibiri in Ogbia Local government of the present Bayelsa State was made on January 15, 1956 and production did not start until 1958. I am not sure Sir Willink was aware of the discovery of oil before making the suggestion.

    The 1963 constitution married the suggestion of Sir Willink.  In section 159 of that constitution “(1) there shall be a board for the Niger Delta which shall be styled the Niger Delta Development Board… The Board shall be responsible for advising the Government of the Federation and the Governments of Eastern Nigeria and Mid-Western Nigeria with respect to the physical development of the Niger Delta…” No region in Nigeria has so far been designated as “special areas” except the Niger Delta and no region also has suffered environmental calamity as Niger Delta now with no land and no water with heavy military presence.

    It was the spirit of Willink report that gave birth to Decree 22 of 1992 which led to the creation of Oil Minerals Producing Commission (OMPADEC). Same to NDDC. Same to the Amnesty programme. Contrary to recommendations of Sir Willink, states have been created in the region as well as local governments yet the problem persists. So when you read about oil fields been bombed in Niger Delta and ugly incidents, one is bound to ask, ‘what do these people really want?’ We need to go beyond asking such a question. There seems to be a disconnect between them and us. We don’t seem to understand them and they don’t understand us. At times they don’t understand themselves. The situation in the region is much more complex than imagined.

    One of their leaders Major Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro (1938-1968) while being sentenced to death by hanging for fighting the cause of Niger Delta as the leader of the Niger Delta Volunteer Force by Justice Phil Ebosie in Port Harcourt on March 27 1966 under the regime of General Thomas Johnson Umanakwe Aguiyi Ironsi(1924-1966) said his people “had long sought to separate not because they loved power but because their conditions were peculiar and the authorities did not understand our problems. There is nothing wrong with Nigeria. What is wrong with us is the total lack of mercy in our activities”.

    To the people of Niger Delta, I plead that violence has never solved and will never solve any problem.

    I have visited the Niger Delta area several times and with billions of naira poured into that region by the central, states and local governments and oil companies also for developments, it is still the same old story-misery, frustration, poverty, neglect, militancy, etc.

    A leadership that emerged from there recently, failed to address the chronic problems of the region and made worse their plight by distributing massive wealth to just few who eventually lost focus. Pity.

    In spite of that, the central government cannot give up on Niger Delta which at present provides most of Nigeria’s wealth, just like the government cannot give up on other parts of the country too including the north east region that is completely devastated today as a result of religious insurgency. In the words of James Baldwin (1924-1987), the black American novelist in his essay titled, MY DUNGEON SHOOK,” We cannot be free until they are free”.

     

    Teniola, a former director at the presidency, resides in Lagos.

     

  • Free health services for women, elderly

    A group, the Lift Above Poverty Organisation (LAPO), has vowed to improve on its free health services for indigent women and children.

    It said last year, no fewer than 60,032 persons benefitted, while 10,609 were socially integrated.

    Its Executive Director, Sabina Idowu-Osehobo, said the health services included free testing for blood pressure, blood sugar, HIV, Hepatitis and malaria, adding that those with serious ailments were referred to health centres and hospitals.

    She spoke during a programme to mark the International Women’s Day with the theme: Pledge for parity, planet 50-50 by 2030, step it up for Gender Equality. LAPO’s sub-theme was: Advancing Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women.

    At the event were market associations, artisans, teachers, religious groups, transport groups, civil societies, as well as students.

    Two beneficiaries, Mrs Dolapo Kareem and Mrs Agnes Olowoye, said the free health tests helped them detect ailments early.

    Represented by LAPO’s Regional Manager, Lagos Vivian Evbotokhai, Idowu-Osehobo said women need to be empowered.

  • Free cleft lips surgery today

    Rotary International Club with a United States (US) based non-governmental organisation (NGO), Alliance for Smiles, has begun free surgery on no fewer than 100 cleft lips and palates patients.

    The 13-day programme is taking place at the Kwara State General Hospital, Ilorin and is designed to cover other states in the north.

    Addressing reporters in Ilorin, the state capital, Governor, District 9125 Rotary International Club, Dr. Omotosho, said  screening of patients in preparation for the surgery had commenced.

    He added that cleft lips and palates patients are born with them, stressing that patients are no victims of spiritual attack.

    He said among the aims of the club was to provide qualitative healthcare and put smile on faces of the cleft patients against social stigmatisation.

    He also said that the club embarked on the free surgery because parents of most victims of the disease are poor and thus unable to afford an average cost of $1,000 for the corrective cosmetic surgery.

    The Rotary district governor, who said the free surgery programme had taken place in Abeokuta and Lagos state, urged patients in the Northcentral zone and beyond to come out to benefit from the programme.

    He said: “The programme is basically to put smiles on the faces of children and it is a target between 80 and 100 patients that we are hoping would be operated upon within a13-day period. We all know that beyond the obvious stigmatisation that comes with such bad defects, there is a whole lot that happens behind. You are very much aware that as much as 60 percent of Nigerians live on less than a Dollar a day; so for the normal children, it is such a tough time taking care of them, now you can imagine a baby that the mother will not be proud to take it out in the community.

    Leader of Alliance for Smiles, Dr. Barbara Fisher lamented the social stigmatisation against cleft and palate patients in society, saying that many people read spiritual and community insinuations and taboo to the disease.

    She said some patients are hidden, while parents found it hard to own up to the situation they found themselves, calling for proper enlightenment to disabuse minds of the public on the causes of the disease.

  • Buhari’s free education; how free?

    SIR: During the presentation of what he termed ‘budget of change’, President Muhammadu Buhari declared free tertiary education in the field of education, technology and science. Basic education in public schools has been free in Nigeria since independence and the issue has either been quality or access. Many rural areas have no schools while where there are schools, parents are not motivated enough to send their wards to schools due to poverty, lack of awareness or both. Lack of adequate qualified teachers and facilities will be rated as the major reasons behind poor quality education. The N369.6 billion budgeted to Education if not stolen, will address to a large extent the issue of facilities, school feeding will boost enrolment while the 500,000 graduates the President promised to engage will also help in reducing the shortage of qualified teachers in the coming financial year.

    My main concern is the extent of the freeness of the ‘free tertiary education’ and its quality.Will it be completely free or partially free?

    During my undergraduate studies, the Kano State government inconsistently paid me N15,000 annually as scholarship. The paltry amount could not cover my school fees and hardly could cover more than a month’s living expenses. It was even less for some states (my friends from Kogi State were receiving N5,000!) and most students I know received only that from government for the whole year. I was a little bit luckier, I also enjoyed, based on merit, Federal Scholarship Board’s Award with annual stipends of N150,000. It helped considerably but the truth is it could not pay my school fees and catered for my modest financial needs throughout the year. My parents still had to pay the bills. I can also remember that out of the more than 40,000 students of Ahmadu Bello University at that time, only less than 40 were offered the gesture that year! So insignificant!

    Will Buhari’s free education cover only first degree, Master’s or PhD or all? If it is expected to cover only undergraduate studies, then it will have minimal contribution to scientific and technological advancement of Nigeria. But if is going to cover higher degrees, then we can loudly shout that Nigeria is a success in progress.

    It is a common knowledge that research funded by students cannot produce sustainable development. High world ranking universities have most of their PhD’s fully funded and one cannot even register for many courses without official sponsorship. Interestingly, large chunk of the funding comes from charities and other establishments.

    For impactful research, a postgraduate student should be fully engaged and insulated from basic financial pressures. I know students who sleep or spend most of their time in laboratories and could not possibly combine their research with another job. In United Kingdom, Research council set regulations for funded postgraduate research to include the minimum of £14,057 as annual tax-free stipend in addition to tuition and research expenses. Most universities in USA engage students as research assistants and pay them what will allow for a decent living. Many countries like Germany extend their tuition-free PhD policy to non-citizens.

    It is hoped that Nigerian government notes that serious free tertiary education has to include free tuition, research fees (which, in most cases is higher than the tuition) and living expenses. Students doing PhD that are not employed or sponsored by organisations should have a fixed decent salary that will make them concentrate on the research. It should also be ensured that only researches with positive impact and domestic touch are allowed and sponsored. The ‘pull-down-syndrome’ in our universities should be stopped and excesses of undisciplined lecturers and supervisors who make it their duty to delay and retard students be checkmated. Only then our universities will be genuine incubation centres for ideas and researches and papers coming from them will be worthier than akara wrapping sheets.

     

    • Dr Marzuq Abubakar Ungogo

     University of Glasgow,

    United Kingdom.

  • Free telemedicine services

    To increase access to healthcare services in the country, a network of medical doctors have introduced a free mobile platform to attend to medical needs of the people.

    The mobile technology platform could be accessed by dialing 0700DOCTORS on their mobile phones.

    Disclosing this at a Programme launch in Abuja, Dr Hadassah Iwuono said with ‘Phone A Doctor’ things have to be better because they are here.

    She said that programme by ChitHub Medical Solutions is like healing from a distance.

    “The greatest impact of telemedicine is on the patient, their family and their community. Using phone a doctor reduces travel time and related stresses for the patient,” she said.

    For the technology developer and chief executive of the firm, Engr Michael Agbobo, in a country where doctor-to-patient ratio is greater than 5,000 and health care facilities grossly in adequate, the service aims to provide real time health care support to improve the industry and save lives.

    “I’m not saying we are solving all the problem but at least we are part of the solution. There must be a more creative way of solving our health care problems.

    “Phone a doctor is a telemedicine service with lots of channels that you use to get access to the same kind of service that any other person can get anywhere in the world.

    “Our vision is to make health care affordable, available and accessible to as many people as we can and I think the best channel to do this is technology,” Agbogo said.

    With over 100 million mobile phone users, the firm says it hopes to bridge the gap in health care delivery. “What we are doing is just more than a call centre, but we are getting doctors, hospitals, diagnostics centres, laboratories, drug prescriptions, drug delivery and remote clinic operations,” he said.

    According to Agbogo, “To say the service is free is truly free for now until we understand the best approach that will make the service affordable, available and accessible.

    “This is a starting posture. The idea is to have three groups of doctors- the in-house doctors who are working full time for call the doctor system, then you a network of doctors that work on full time basis but are allocated time to attend to patients and the network of specialists for different specialties both locally and internationally,” he explained.

  • Ijaw group demands free, fair election

    Ijaw group demands free, fair election

    An Ijaw group, Eye of Niger Delta (END), yesterday called on the youths in the Bayelsa State to shun violent acts in today’s governorship election.

    END, which ended its three-day sensitization rally against violence in today’s election, warned the youths in the state to desist from acts that could undermine the election in the state.

    Addressing its members on the last day of the rally in Ekeki community, Yanagoa Local Government Area, the leader of the group, Comrade Victor Tari Ben, said his organisation places high premium on the unity and development of the Niger Delta region.

    Ben said Bayelsa, being one of the states in the region, would not be allowed to be controlled by people without conscience who only believe in what they can get from the tax payers’ money instead of improving the living conditions of the people and the environment.

    He said that when he saw the suffering in the faces of the people of Bayelsa, he realized that there were many wrongs to right, adding that tomorrow is the best day to make history and to right the wrongs that have been hindering them from prospering.

    His words: “The principle of one man, one vote will be applied on Election Day. Don’t indulge in any practice that would sabotage the election, but vote for change. We are tired of hearing one sad story or the other even when our state is blessed with human and natural resources.

    “I want all Bayelsans to come out en masse and not to sit at home, because what we need now is peace and unity and a candidate that can deliver on job creation, infrastructural development and human capacity development.”

  • Free movies at AFRIFF 2015

    Free movies at AFRIFF 2015

    LAGOS is set for a harvest of the best of African films, as the 5th edition of the popular Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) kicks off this Sunday in the nation’s entertainment hub, rotating screenings from Silverbird Galleria, Victoria Island, City Mall Cinema, Onikan and Genesis Duluxe, Lekki.

    The event which holds from November 8 to 15, 2015, is expected to feature some of the best exports from the continent, while celebrating the auteurs whose films have been celebrated on the global stage such as Festival de Cannes, France; Berlinale, Germany and Venice International Film Festival among others.

    Organizers of AFRIFF are of the view that the festival, being domiciled in Nigeria, will afford Nollywood the opportunity of sharing artistic and business ideas with filmmakers from other African countries for possible collaborations.

    Meanwhile, Nigerian movie buffs will have a refreshing experience viewing films from other clans; most of them politically and economically motivated.

    “Films are documentaries of the life and history of a people. The things you read in the papers or see on TV about the situations in Egypt, Syria, Mali, Iran, and South Africa for example are better reflected, as captured by filmmakers from these countries,” said Afie Braimoh, AFRIFF’s Director of Operations.

    She announced that these films come free-of-charge to the public, who are merely enjoined by AFRIFF to register on www.afriff.com or at the venue of their choice, prior to the screenings of the films.

    “Details of the film schedules are already on the website. Those interested would only need to check titles and the venue that is closer to them. It’s a bumper harvest, as we have about 180 films from Africa and the Diaspora,” said Festival Manager, Ikenna Ezenyirioha.

    AFRIFF’s highlights this year include Jonas Carpignano’s Mediterranea, a film about capital flight, as the opening film, while Road To Yesterday, the highly anticipated feature film debut by Nollywood diva, Genevieve Nnaji will close the festival. Among other top films from Africa and the Diaspora will be Ayanda, a South African film featuring our own OC Ukeje, with a special screening during the South African Day at the festival.

    Aside from the glamour that resonates with the stars whose films are being shown at these festivals, the initiative also provides a platform for thought-provoking discourses, master classes and networking.

    Film journalists too, for the first time will share in the experience, not just as spectators and reporters, but as participants in a series of workshops that will improve their reportorial skills, and launch them into the world of international film critics.

    With about 139 films in competition, the actors and filmmakers will share in the spotlight of a closing ceremony that rewards excellence. The glory of the night will not just be about the plaques and prize money, but a testament of the best from the year in review, coming from high profile jurors.