The Nation Newspaper

Tag: gone

  • Our darling Bukky is gone

    Our darling Bukky is gone

    The whole of The Nation family and indeed the entire Nigerian media family, particularly those who knew her, woke up last Friday to the sad news of Bukola Bridget Aroloye Nee Afolabi’s death. To say the least, it was shattering. Rightly, the first thought was, ‘Oh God, let this not be confirmed. Let it be a rumour; or (perhaps) let it be a Bukky that we don’t know.’

    She was so so dear. Like every other human being, she had her faults and shortcomings, but like one of her colleagues, Morakinyo Abodunrin of the Sunday Nation Sports Desk put it in his response to a facebook post, Bukky or Mummy GO as we loved to call her, was always calm even when provoked. Looking back, it was as if she knew it’s a short life and there is absolutely no need fussing over it.

    Bukola only just put to bed a month ago a set of twins and most of us at The Nation couldn’t just wait to tease he with the usual ‘Iya-beji stuff’. We had a lot of that before she went on maternity leave and were just boiling to let her know how much of soothsayers we were. But alas, that was not to be. Not in this world at least.

    Bukola was a correspondent on the Sunday Nation Business Desk, and what she lacked in other areas, she made up for in her patience and ability to soak in the pressure of work.

    Born December 1980, Bukola hails from Ekiti State. She attended Holy Child College, Tondo and The Polytechnic, Ibadan, before proceeding to the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos.

    She began her journalism career in 2005 at TELL Magazine. She spent two years there before moving on to The Week magazine as a correspondent on the Business Desk. There, she reported the financial, telecoms and energy sectors.

    While at The Week, she won the Nigeria Media Merit Award NMMA Power Reporter of the Year award in 2008. In 2009, as a fresh staff at National Life newspaper, Bukola was a runner-up at the NMMA award, this time in the Business Reporter of the year category. Not long after, she moved over to The Nation, where she contributed her quota to the Sunday Business desk.

    Described by erudite journalist and co-founder of TELL magazine as ‘vivacious, tireless and talented; full of drive ad ambition, Bukola is a vastly traveled and experienced journalist, covering and reporting global financial events, including the Bi-annual World Bank Summit in Tokyo, Japan and Washington DC, USA.

    She is survived by her mother siblings, four children, two of them a month-old set of twins, and her husband.

  • Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo, gone like the wind

    Like a candle stick burning in the wind, Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo, 57, is gone. He was killed fleeing from gun- shooting robbers when he was hit by motorists who, driving furiously and blindly, were also desperately seeking to escape. It is a gory story and ending of a simple and humble man I do not wish to remember.

    The path of Onukaba and mine met this earth life when he came to work at The Guardian newspaper in the 1980s as a trainee or cub reporter. Like journalism recruits of The Guardian of those days, he was a greenhorn fresh from the university in bright colours, professionally malleable and confident that he could and would conquer the world. A reporter of The Guardian of those start-up years couldn’t be any different. His education was merely a recommendation of his potential for editorial suitability in a dreamy newspaper which sought to become Nigeria’s best newspaper and quality newspaper as from its debut on the news-stand. Such a newspaper was mindful that, like the lead chicken which picks the plum piece of beef in the meal tray, it would be pursued by the others. But it would always have its way if it was always inventive, charting new direction when its rivals caught up with its old ways and means. By so doing, a newspaper, such as The Guardian of the 1980s and probably the 1990s, would keep its rivals running and panting, while it would remain invincible.  In the end, they would crash out of its trail and it would stand all alone in its own world and class.

    To achieve this dream, the writing style was specially designed, and the cub or trainee reporter qualified to work with the editors was schooled in it and other paraphernalia of the war we were about to wage in the industry. Our reports were to be mono-thematic, written in picturesque and active racy language, well back grounded and sometimes even interpretative or predictive. The reporter had to be a master of grammar. That was the specialty of Lade Bonuola (LAD BONE), who flagged off The Guardian as its Associate Editor. In his higher school certificate (HSC) days at Ijebu-Ode Grammar School, Bonuola won the John F. Kennedy zonal essay competition. Years later at the Daily Times, Bonuola wrote a popular column in the Sunday Times titled: CUT-OUT in which he exposed ungrammatical writing in various newspapers. It was a privilege for me in those days to be the founding Assistant Editor and then graduate into Deputy Editor, Editor, and eventually, Director of Publication /Editor-In-Chief.

    In these capacities I worked with Onukaba and his equally terrific colleagues. Forgive me if I do not remember them all. I can see the faces of  Frank Aigbogun, who later established BUSINESS DAY NEWSPAPER, the irrepressible and indefatigable Jide Ogundele, Pius Isiekwene, Jullyette Ukabiala, the Defence Correspondent, Goddi Nnadi, The Education Correspondent, and Architect Paul Okunlola, who delivered the Property section, Ayogu Eze of the Features Desk, who later became a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Wole Agunbiade and Niyi Obaremi, who were soon found able to become custodians of The Guardian style, their boss, Nduka Irabor, who, to me, was in our time the best news editor in Nigeria. Seun Ogunseitan, the science reporter, who discovered a toxic and radioactive waste dump in Koko, Warri North in Delta State  and the fact that underground water in Ijesha area of Lagos was heavily poisoned with heavy metals, a cause of cancer. We cannot forget Dayo Oluyemi, who alone reported the National Assembly and its committees. When she resigned for a teaching career at Lagos State University (LASU) and to marry this columnist, we needed four reporters to replace her. What about Taiwo Obe, now CEO of TAIJOWONUKABE, Communications Company. We cannot forget Gbenga Omotosho, present editor of The Nation newspaper. Together with his boss, Chief Sub-Editor Doyin Nureni Mahmood and colleague Sunny Abiandu on the sub- editors’ desk, bailed us out of a major quality control crisis when the entire re-write desk resigned for greener pastures. There were also Greg Obong-Oshotse (1st class Hons Political Science degree from Ife), Adigun Agbaje, now a professor of Political Science and Lanre Idowu, the brain behind DAME (Diamond Award for Media Excellence). Lanre and I were to write the first lead story of The Guardian. It was the story of a popular Lagos photographer, his wife, a popular Ibadan lawyer and the military regime. The government detained and was prosecuting the photographer under a retroactive currency trafficking decree. Meanwhile, the photographer’s lawyer was sleeping with the photographer’s wife. The sister of the photographer’s wife, who kept her sister company at home blew the whistle. All was set for the copy that would have rocked the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and The Bench. But the children of the photographer, who were studying in universities abroad rushed home to freeze the copy. Which editor will easily forget Jullyette Ukabiala. She was the Defense Correspondent. On the evening before the Major Gideon Gwaza Orka attempted coup against the Military presidency of General Ibrahim Babangida in April 1990, I sighted a Military tank driving out of Ikeja Cantonement as I headed towards Maryland, Lagos, on my way home in Obanikoro via the town planning connection with Apapa-Oworonshoki expressway. I didn’t like the sight. A mistaken shot from that longish gun of the tank could shatter my Volkswagen Beetle to grains of sand. About 8am the following morning, Jullyette knocked on my gate to announce that there had been a coup attempt in the night. I thought she was joking. But when she emptied her bag of bullet shells still smelling fresh of gun powder, I became serious myself. Her legs had been bruised when soldiers dragged her away from the president’s bullet-battered residence. She had wanted to get in for more information that would make The Guardian’s report an icing-on-the-cake report the next day. Dutifully, I packed a box of boxers, singlets, biscuits, tooth-brush and toothpaste, garri and fried meat and headed for the office in my car.

    I have told this short story to paint the picture of what stuff The Guardian’s reporters of old were made of. Please permit me to tell a few more stories before I return to Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo. Jullyette was so good on the Defence Beat that the state security service wanted her withdrawn from the beat. Which state security would be pleased with a reporter, who beats its cordon and walks up to the military president on a parade ground simply to confirm a story Lade Bonuola called Jullyette to inform her about the request of the state security. Jullyette would not vacate the beat. Bonuola left her on the beat. And Jullyette waxed stronger. In her own time, she would now enroll at Kings College, England, for a post-graduate degree in Strategic Studies.

    Paul Okunlola came in straight from Ife with an M. Arch degree in Architecture. He was willing to retrain as a reporter and deliver a script written for a Housing and Environment section. At that time, the newspaper had established a class but was not making money because it was not yet predicated on business niches. We needed only five pages of advertisement to break even. But we were stuck on two or three. Proudly, we rejected obituary advertisements which fuelled the huge advertisement traffic of the Daily Times, the leader in advertisement traffic. Before I left The Guardian, the Property pages were delivering more than 20 pages every Monday to make it overtake the Daily Times in advertisement traffic. Adinoyi- Ojo was not on a beat where The Guardian could make money. His was the Airport beat. On this beat, The Guardian could pack influence and eminence into its name, and it did. Traditionally, this was a dry beat. So dry was it that reporters, who covered routine reports for their editors were so relaxed  that they formed an association of “gateway” reporters. They stopped every prominent Nigerian flying in or out of the Murtala Muhammed Airport for an interview which they syndicated exclusively among themselves. If you were a member and travelled abroad on a short holiday without the knowledge your editor, there was no way he or she would know because the association would pass to your newspaper your own copy of the syndicated reports. That killed competition among newspapers, and the reporters benefited in a myriad of ways.

    Adinoyi-Ojo changed all of that. He did not despise his colleagues. That would mean fighting them and they would seek to destroy him.  He remembered every reporter of The Guardian had a special task. He or she must tower above his or her colleagues in every department of the competition such as the language of the report, the colour of the presentation, the depth of the stories and the background and projection among many others. In fact, reporters and correspondents of The Guardian were unhappy if their copies were not EXCLUSIVES and if it did not make the front page lead story on account of its editorial value. To teach them that their editors were not “wear” generals who fought battles only from the rear, the editors sometimes showed them they, too, had not lost gas and were still “fighters”. On one such occasion,  Adinoyi- Ojo and I met at the Pullitzer Hotel in the Netherlands. I had gone with some Nigerian editors on a Mobil (Nig.) Ltd sponsored short trip to its facilities at The Hagwe, in the U.K. and in Texas. We had a small flight problem in Amsterdam and had to spend the night at the Pullitzer. Suddenly, I sighted Adinoyi-Ojo. He and General Olusegun Obasanjo were returning from the United States and had a stop over which brought Onukaba to the Pullitzer. Back home on the KLM flight, General Obasanjo left his seat in the first class cabin to share jokes with us editors in the economy class. I had just read in The New Herald Tribune that General Obasanjo was in the United States to pull strings for the office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations (U N). I relocated to his seat to speak with a gentleman who travelled with him and who had given the impression that that was exactly what the trip was about. From the airport, I rushed to The Guardian’s office to stop the press and file the copy. General Obasanjo was furious. My source said he had never seen me. But Lade Bonuola and the then Managing Director, Dr. Stanley Macebuh, trusted me, and we did not retract the story. On another occasion, General Babangida was coming to Lagos in the morning from Abuja to announce in the evening that his government had decided to recognise only two political groups out of the 50 or more which applied for registration  as new breed political parties of “equal  joiner” membership.  That meant Federal Government, not individuals, would finance the political parties. As the General landed at the Lagos airport that morning, the newspaper which spoiled his day, hours before the “real’’ announcement, was The Guardian. Our headline was that only two of the groups would be approved for the elections. The report said one would be democratic (a little to the left) and the other would be Republican (a little to the right). Not to overdo things, the names of these parties were not mentioned. General Babangida was bitter. Adinoyi-Ojo banded with his group of reporters and separated from them at the same time to always be himself. The stories they did not see, while sticking to predictable routine stories which did not sell the newspaper, he reported. Often, they were angry with him and punished him by not circulating to him any group story which he missed in the course   of pursuing exclusive stories.  But we did not mind such misses because Adinoyi -Ojo always gave The Guardian the edge over other newspapers at the airport. The routing was so severe that, one day, it was reported, Mr. Segun Osoba, a journalism veteran and Managing Director of the Daily Times had to visit the airport to personally deliver a query on copy misses to the newspaper’s correspondent there.

    53 SUITCASES

    What I would consider to be the five- star exclusive story of  Adinoyi-Ojo was the report on 53 suitcases. For whatever reason(s), Nigeria was changing the colours of its currency. The government thought there had been heavy trafficking in the currency outside Nigeria and, with the change, succeeded in mopping up N5 billion in April 1984. In those days, it was believed that many people stored large stocks of stolen naira at home in Nigeria and abroad. The change caused congestions at exchange points. One day, Adinoyi –Ojo noticed an unusual movement of cargo at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos. He counted 53 suitcases which did not go through Customs check. He called the newspaper’s photographer nicknamed Zoom Lens because his camera could pick distant objects. The owner of the suitcases was thought to be the Emir of Gwandu, whose son was, Major Jokolo, the aid-de-camp (ADC) of Military Head of State Muhammadu Buhari. The widespread belief at that time was that either Major Jokolo, who has now succeeded his father as the Emir of Gwandu, was at the airport to help his father to beat a Customs check or that a double standard Head of State Buhari was behind it. It was a celebrated report. General Buhari dissociated himself from it. His story was that (1) he was playing squash with Major Jokolo on the day the Major’s father was returning from abroad (2) the Major did not wish to go to the airport to welcome his father home (3) General Buhari prompted him to go to the airport (4) former Vice President Atiku Abubakar was the customs officer at the airport at that time, and was in a better position to explain what happened(5) what happened was that a former protocol officer of General Buhari who had become Nigeria’s Ambassador to Libya  returned home on that day with his three wives  and  sixteen children; his luggage, including the handbags of his  wives and children, were counted as his suitcases.

    Whatever the truth is, Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo did not refute his report. The Guardian, too, did not. An editor would expect a university graduate to be able to tell the differences between a suitcase, a briefcase, and a handbag  the same way a secondary school pupil of today will distinguish a desk-top computer from a lap-top and a cellphone. I do not know if former Vice President Abubakar has made a comment. The media failed to wonder at what cost to the public the ambassador, a public officer, maintained three wives and sixteen children in Libya. For it was unlikely his salary would support the bill. And if he had extraneous income, did the Civil Service Rules support that? Adinoyi-Ojo returned from Abroad to meet again with his old friend, General Obasanjo who, meanwhile, had become President of Nigeria. Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was the Vice-President. President Obasanjo assigned Adinoyi-Ojo, an old loyalist, to work with Vice President Atiku Abubakar as his Special Adviser on Media Affairs. After the Obasanjo Administration ended its tenure,  Adinoyi-Ojo tried his hands in politics as a governorship candidate in Kogi State. But he failed to make it in the last elections. Before his demise, it was widely suggested that he may have become a compromise candidate in the 2019 Kogi governorship elections. His death raises again the question of safety on Nigerian roads.

    HIGHWAY POLICE

    Onukaba’s death brings up again the question of policing in Nigeria. It is obvious now that the Nigeria Police Force alone cannot adequately police Nigeria. We need state police forces in the states. We need highway police on the highways. As I suggested in a FACEBOOK post on this matter, about 100,000 people must be travelling on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway every day. If everyone pays N 100 for security on that road, that would yield (N100, 000 x 100) which is = N10 million  everyday. In one month, that would mean N10 million  X 30 = N300 million. This should be enough to keep police patrol every 50 kilometres on either side of the road from Lagos to Ibadan and improve on the security of life and property. It is a pity Onukaba had to go before we again began to think about this. What would N100 have cost him to keep his life? What will N100 cost you, the reader, to protect your life when you travel on Nigeria’s rubber-bombarded inter-city highways? We are like a sleepy or dead people. We do not act in time when a stitch in time can save nine. We wasted Onukaba’s life. Good bye, Onukaba.

  • Buhari’s wife: a great woman is gone

    Buhari’s wife: a great woman is gone

    The wife of the President, Mrs Aisha  Muhammadu Buhari, has described the late Awolowo’s wife, Hannah Idowu as “a remarkable mother, wife and a fountain of inspiration”.

    Mrs  Buhari, who was paying a tribute to the late Mrs Awolowo in the course of a visit to the deceased’s grand daughter, Mrs Dolapo Yemi Osinbajo, the wife of the Vice President, said it was “impossible to recall Chief Awolowo’s impressive political record and contributions to our democratic development without recognising the significant role the late Hanna Idowu played in his successes in life.”

    At 99, the wife of the President said the late Mrs Awolowo had lived a fulfilled life, and left indelible footprints on the sands of time.

    She extended her condolences to the family, the government and people of Ogun State over the death of what she described as “an extraordinary woman that deserves extraordinary accolades”.

    The Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof. Isaac Folorunso Adewole, also joined other Nigerians to mourn the death of Mama Awolowo, saying that  the matriarch  of the Awolowo family lived a fulfilled life.

    She was an upright Nigerian with an impeccable and immaculate character, worthy of emulation, the VC remarked in a statement by the University ‘s Director of Public Communication, Mr. Olatunji Oladejo.

    Quoting the words of Victor Hugo, the VC said “It is nothing to die, it is frightful not to live”; for Mama Awolowo, she came, she fought and she conquered.

    Prof. Adewole said she has lived and done her  best, “she is irreplaceable. She will forever live on in our memories.”

    “On behalf of council, senate, congregation, management, staff and students of the University  of Ibadan, “ we commiserate with  the Awolowo family and Nigerians. We pray that  her gentle and tender soul rests in perfect peace. Indeed a gem has gone to be with  the  Lord”, the VC said.

    The immediate past Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly,  Adeyemi Ikuforiji  described the late  matriarch of the  Awolowo dynasty as a rare breed among women.

    Ikuforiji stated this in a in a condolence message on the death of Mama to the Awolowo family yesterday.

    According to the former speaker, Mama was “ a rare breed among women and an uncommon heroine that would forever remain a huge symbol of stability on the home front”.

    He added: “With more women like Mama Awolowo in Afica,  there is no doubt that  the era of large scale divorce  in many homes  today will be a thing of the past .”

    Ikuforiji stated further that “as our dear Mama Hannah Dideolu Awolowo finally departs this planet to join our hero and  late sage, Pa Obafemi Awolowo , in glory,   It is very important for us all to note that Mama’s life is that of celebration, and not mourning.

    “For an uncommon woman of her calibre to have given her  all to Papa Awolowo through thick and thin, and stand firmly behind her husband  while implementing earth-shaking revolutionary socio-economic and human development programmes for his people in the defunct Western region of Nigeria, thus liberating them from poverty, lack, and deprivation for life, now is the time to celebrate her for all her good works and her uncommon love for her husband, and humanity while she was with us. “

    He stated that it is very important to  teach the young ones, particularly the female folks, that  they should embrace the rare virtues of love, trust,   and perseverance in order to enjoy a blissful  marital life like the late Mama  Awolowo.

    He prayed for “the peaceful repose of  the  great soul of this uncommon heroine of love and trust who stood firmly behind her husband, through good and bad times, to enable him actualize his dreams and aspiration for his people .

    “Much as we would have loved to keep Mama Awolowo with us permanently so as to keep drinking from her wealth of knowledge, wisdom and understanding, the Almighty God however decreed it long ago, at the beginning of creation, that   every   human being that he created must live and die at one time or the other. So, that makes it impossible for us to want to keep a precious jewel of   Mama’s  calibre for ever with us. Our joy is however in the fact that she lived up to the very ripe age of one hundred, which we would have all  celebrated with her , had Mama waited for some more sixty-seven days before closing her eyes.. “ Ikuforiji asserted .

    “I therefore, on behalf of my entire family, commiserate with the entire members of our Papa Obafemi Awolowo, the good people of Ikenne, indigenes of Ogun State, and indeed all Yoruba sons and daughters, both at home and abroad. on this sad occasion of the loss of Mama H.I.D. Awolowo.   May the Almighty God grant us all the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss,” Ikuforiji prayed

  • Dogara: Our mother is gone

    Dogara: Our mother is gone

    Speaker Yakubu Dogara has described Chief (Mrs.) H.I.D. Awolowo as a mother whose humanitarian, philanthropic deeds and exemplary life were worthy of emulation.

    Dogara, while mourning the passage of Mrs Awolowo in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Turaki Hassan, urged the federal and Ogun State governments to immortalise her.

    Dogara said: “The late Mrs. Awolowo was a mother to the nation and said she has left a huge vacuum in our lives.

    “She will continue to be remembered for her humanitarian and philanthropic deeds and said she lived an exemplary life worthy of emulation.

    “She was a pious woman who was a pillar of support for her husband, the late sage Awolowo since the days of struggle for independence up to the eighties when he died.

    “Although we would have loved that she remain with us, as mortals, we all must test death but our joy is that she has gone to rest.”

     

  • Gone… Kaduna’s fruits market

    Gone… Kaduna’s fruits market

    The Railway Station Market in Kaduna used to be very popular for fruits and assorted food items. It was a beehive of activities where customers purchased fruits and foodstuff brought in from the southern part of the country. Owned by the Nigeria Railway Corporation, it was adjacent to the Kaduna Junction as the railway terminal in Kaduna was called.

    Residents and visitors  took pleasure in buying their goods there because the prices were relatively cheap. That was in the yesteryears.  Currently, what used to be a hub for business activities is now a den for reptiles and drug addicts. The once-busy market is now very bushy as the shops were demolished seven years ago.  The traders were given notice to quit before the market was demolished.

    The intention of the authorities of the Nigeria Railway Property Development Company (NRPDC) in demolishing the market then was to build a modern market that will accommodate more traders. A temporary site had to be provided for some of the traders, while others were left to their fate.

    Our correspondents gathered that several meetings were held with the traders before they agreed to vacate the place, with a promise that they would be the first beneficiaries of the stalls when the market is built.

    Nowadays, there is concern over the safety of the traders and their goods, especially when it rains. Many of the traders who could not find space in the temporary place provided for traders beside the roundabout are forced to display their goods, including perishable ones such as garri, in the open and beside the road.

    The traders are at the mercy of men of the Kaduna Environmental Protection Agency (KEPA), even as they stand the risk of being involved in accidents. Interestingly, the Kaduna Railway Station Market was not only the most popular market in Kaduna State; it was a major foodstuff market in Northern Nigeria. Apparently, because of its strategic location near the railway station, the market was always the first stopping point for foodstuff, particularly yam and fruits from the southern part of the country.

    Even though trading activities are still carried out around the area, the market is currently a shadow of itself. Visitors to the market would weep for the state of abandonment of a once-viable market and the fact that prices of commodities are no longer different from what obtains in other markets after its demolition.

    Many of the traders who once made brisk businesses in the market now depend on the patronage of motorists as they had to display their wares by the roadside. Some of them who spoke to our correspondents said they were not surprised that the market was demolished, even as they said they didn’t expect that they will stay more than a year selling by the roadside.

    A fruit seller, Mrs. Helen Idoko, claimed that her mother was selling foodstuffs inside the market when she (Helen) was in secondary school, adding that there were threats to demolish the market while they were there.

    “I have been selling food items in the market with my mother for several years. Every year, those who are in charge of the market would tell us that they wanted to demolish the market. At first, the buildings were made of zinc. After some years, they said everybody should build with block. Later, they demolished the market and told us that they would build it and share the stalls to everybody. But, up till now, nothing has happened. “

    “First, they said Aliko Dangote bought the place. After some weeks, Dangote denied buying the place. Then they said a former governor of the state bought it. But we are not  sure of who the buyer is. Since then, however,  we have been prevented from entering the market. We don’t have anything to do with the Railway Corporation Market again.”

    She lamented that they had lost customers since the market was demolished. Before the demolition, people came from all parts of Kaduna to patronise traders at the Railway Station Market.

    Tuesdays and Fridays are Station Market days. People bring goods from Niger, Kafanchan and Lafia. Yams and other food items are very cheap in the market.  But now only trains bring food items from Niger on Thursday, Sundays and Mondays.”

    Madam Anthonia Monday, who also sells by the roadside corroborated Mrs. Helen’s statement.

    She said: “I have been selling in the market for many years and in 2007. They demolished it. They told us then that they had sold the market. Some people said Dangote bought it. But, he denied it. It was later we heard that a former governor bought the land.”

    On the challenges of trading by the roadside, Mrs. Monday said: “We face many challenges on the road. For example, the men of the Kaduna Environmental Protection Agency prevent us from selling at the roadside. There is no attempt to rebuild the market, and nobody has come to tell us anything about the land.

    “Also, when it rains, we use umbrella to cover ourselves since we don’t have a shop to run to. If the rain is very heavy, we use leather to cover ourselves and leave our wares in the open. We have not experienced any form of accident.

    On the sale of the piece of land, investigations revealed that the management of the NRPDC might have sold it, but the identity of the buyer has remained unknown.

    There are three versions on the ownership of the piece of land. One is that a former governor bought the land from the management of the Nigeria Railway Corporation. Another is that Dangote bought it to build warehouses for his companies, which he denied.

    The third is that the market was  to be upgraded to a modern one. Those who hold this opinion said the management had sent a delegation to study the Jos Modern Market and the Oba Market in Benin with a view to modeling the market after one of them.

    When contacted, the management of NRPDC declined to comment on the matter. They neither confirmed nor denied the outright sale of the market and to whom.

    For now, and perhaps, several years to come, the once-busy Kaduna Railway Market may continue to be a fallow vast land breeding reptiles in the heart of Kaduna metropolis and probably serving as a hideout for criminals and drug addicts.

  • Gone with the wind

    Gone with the wind

    Digital software has changed the way advertising practitioners think. Gone is the era of creative manual adverts. Most creative artists simply develop concepts. Software translates it to picture and images. But, there are fears that this emerging trend will cost fine artists their job, reports ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI.

    There is big dividing line between traditional and digital advertising. In the past 10 years, they have started to embrace each other more openly, yet the line remains despite being blurred.

    While technology-savvy creative experts see the use of digital computer software such as Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, QuarkEx-press, PageMaker as the game changer, proponents of creative traditional advertising creative and fine artists have been advised to upgrade their knowledge in line with the fast changing industry.

    With latest software such as 3D computer graphics, artists may no longer be needed to sketch image for art directors as the software cannot only generate or create drawings but manipulate images.

    Also, the software can add, subtract, stretch among others to create perfect interpretation of creative brief. Though criticised for often overplaying creativity, over-hyping of brands being promoted, hence, making creative experts to become lazy in thinking deeper but the world seem to have engaged the creative tools for competition sake. For Nigerian ad agencies, the software has made the creative work less cumbersome and more competitive.

    According to the former Creative Director, 141 Worldwide and now Chief Executive Officer of X3M, Mr. Steve Babaeko, “digital art software has helped to make the creative process less painful for art directors.”

    He said this has also “helped artists push the frontiers of creativity to hitherto unimaginable frontiers.” While underscoring the importance of traditional art, Babaeko said digital art software would be meaningless without the knowledge of the handdrawn artistry.

    “Like the saying goes: the hood does not make the monk. The best software in the world is at best used less in the hands of an unskilled artist,” he said.

    In the same vein, the Creative Director, DKK Nigeria, Mr. Sam Adeoye, affirmed that digital art has moved the ad business forward as art directors and designers have become more creative in their work, achieving photo manipulations, illustrations, and all that could not be done in the days of copy and paste. He said with increasingly sophisticated demands, meeting deadline for client briefs is now less bothering while quality of work is better.

    “We have also become faster in the process. And generally, the quality of production is now better, especially with the latest printing machines,” he affirmed. Despite the speed and quality offered, Adeoye expresses fears over relevance of old creative method.

    He said: “I’m sure some of the old jobs in the era of cut and paste must have been eliminated as technology improved and photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, QuarkEx-press, PageMaker, etc came along. Also, artists who couldn’t use these new applications must have found themselves redundant.”

    However, he maintained that no matter how inevitable digital art has become in delivering value brands creative, the jobs of artists’ remain relevant.

    “We still need artists.Agencies need artists as designers, art directors, illustrators and FA specialists. Even the old skills of drawing remains relevant and artists who can draw are still highly valued. The more clients an agency has, the more artists it’s going to need,” he said.

    Adeoye, who was Group Head, Copy, at STB McCann Erickson, said the artists are not the only creative professionals facing the creative software threat. “It’s not just for artists; it’s for all of us. That’s why we must constantly search for the latest thinking and breakthroughs around the world. The best way to deal with the challenge is to never stop the search for knowledge.”

    He, however, insisted that despite the emergence of animation software like 3D graphics kit, hand-drawing remains key in the creative process.

    “Animation is one of the things agencies are sometimes required to do. It’s on a different level from what is commonly referred to as art directing. But even animation will still require some drawing.

    Even at Pixar, they still draw, and it doesn’t get more traditional than drawing. If we are wondering that machines will one day replace art directors, then we are entering the realm of science fiction.

    And what was once science fiction, such as unmanned drones, is now real; the same thing may happen in advertising. Someday, someone may develop a true iRobot with empathy and the complex understanding of human emotions, which advertising always requires.

    If that happens, then, machines may start producing ads that will resonate with people. For now, we only have good software and this software requires people to use them,” he said.

    Even at global level, many agencies still draw their storyboard which is the template for TVC. As Deputy Creative Director, Prima Garnet, Mr Victor Dairo, noted, “some foreign adverts still come in drawing and sketches; it depends on which message you want to pass on despite the use of software.”

    Meanwhile, the founder and worldwide creative director of BBH, a global ad agency, John Hegarty, while speaking at the Economist’s Technology Frontiers conference, said creativity and technology need to be synergised to deliver the results.

    He explained how in the past, technological innovations such as the printing press and cinema were initially celebrated for the technology itself, but then required creative people to bring the technology to life after the novelty stage.

    “Creativity challenges technology and technology inspires creativity,” he said.

    “Sometimes, there is a schism between creative people and technologists, but we are in cohesion with each other. If we don’t work with each other we don’t move forward,” he noted.

     

  • ‘Oh, my joy is gone’

    ‘Oh, my joy is gone’

    Sympathisers found it hectic bringing the emotions of the 25-year-old woman under control yesterday. She wept like a baby over the death of her husband in yet inscrutable circumstances.

    “God, my joy is gone!” Mrs. Happiness Okpok, mother of four, exclaimed as a thick crowd of sympathisers struggled to pacify her at the family’s Anuoluwapo Street, Ifako-Gbagada, Lagos home.

    “I beg the state Commissioner of Police (Mr Umar Manko) to help unravel the sudden death of my husband.  His death is strange,” she pleaded.

    Narrating her ordeal to The Nation, she said her 47-year-old husband, Mr Sunday Okpok, who had for five years, driven his boss, Mr Oludare Senbore, left home as usual about 6 am on June 23, to resume work at Senbore’s 12B, Omoyele Pratt Street, off Oladunni Street, Ferrand Estate, Ifako-Gbagada home.

    Happiness recalled that when she called to check on her husband about 7pm that day, his phone was switched off, only to receive Senbore’s call after 10 pm, asking her to come and see him at Barracks bus stop, Ifako that night.

    She said: “I rushed there with a neighbour. On getting there, Mr Senbore and his wife alighted from their car. After they finished discussing in Yoruba language, he handed my husband’s phone and wallet to over to me. He told me that Sunday was involved in an accident and that he was taken to the General Hospital, Broad Street in Lagos. He asked me to go and see him in the morning.

    “I got there only to see my husband with a mask over his face. He could not talk or open his eyes; he could neither move nor hear anything. I was directed to buy some prescribed drugs and I did. I also paid for an x-ray. As it was my husband’s turn for the x-ray, I went to inform the medical personnel to bring him. That was when the doctor informed me that my husband had died. I saw my husband’s dead body with his tongue out of his mouth.”

    “Mr Senbore was called. He came and saw the corpse. He paid the mortuary bills for one week and told me to go and arrange with the church for his urgent burial, explaining that there was no need to keep the corpse for long,” Happiness said.

    She said that she was shocked when she visited the Lion Building Police Headquarters in Lagos, only to be told that there was no case of accident reported there.

    Documents on the deceased issued by Dr Salau T.M at the General Hospital, Lagos, on June 24, stated that the late Okpok suffered head injury, following which he died at 12.20 pm that day.

    To release the corpse, the mortuary managers demanded police extract, affidavit and Police Release Form among others.

    She said she did not know how to get the documents, adding that Senbore “is not helping.” She  suspects that her husband was murdered but arranged to look like an accident. “Why did he not report to the police if it was an accident?” She asked.

    The young widow said her husband left four children with her – two boys and two girls. She said she has no job and no business as she is still nursing the last baby and does not know where to  raise the mortuary bills which is N700 per day.

    “How do I raise money to transport the corpse to Etinan Local Government Area in Akwa Ibom State, our home town, for burial? How do I raise the children? My husband was owed three months salary before he died”, she added.

    When contacted, Mr Senbore said his deceased was involved in a tricycle accident on his way to his office, adding that he was not driving him at that time but was riding on a tricycle.

    “I only got to know about it after the accident. He was taken to the hospital where I paid for his treatment, but unfortunately, he died the following day,” he told The Nation, maintaining that he knew nothing about Sunday’s death.

    He also said he did not know who took Sunday to the hospital.

  • Gone with the year

    Gone with the year

    The outgoing year is one that witnessed the death of many Nigerians. Some died in plane and helicopter crashes. Others died of terminal illnesses and some passed away in their sleep, writes Buki Ponle, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

    When is a goodbye not good at all? Perhaps, it is when a dear one is dead. When is goodbye not good for a country? It is when that country has lost the gem of its people, especially in a rapid frequency as it happened in Nigeria in 2012.

    Many Nigerian families lost dear ones and for members of some of the families; life can never be the same again.

    This is because the deceased could have been the life support of the family members: their water during thirst, their shelter in time of homelessness and their hope in time of need.

    And they are all gone!

    Among those citizens who died in the outgoing year are statesmen, eminent lawyers, politicians, film stars and national heroes, who in one way or the other, touched the people’s lives, directly or indirectly. However, their deeds live on even after their demise.

    The Dana plane crash of June 3 in Lagos State killed 153 persons on board and caused six deaths and a number of injuries on the ground, all celebrities in their own right. It was a traumatic experience for residents of Lagos in particular and a calamity for Nigerians generally.

    Perhaps the most dramatic and painful of deaths was the latest, involving the former Kaduna State Governor, Mr. Patrick Yakowa (65), who died on December 15, along with five others, after attending a funeral ceremony in Bayelsa.

    The late Yakowa and the former National Security Adviser, Gen. Owoye Azazi, were returning in a navy helicopter, after the burial of the father of Oronto Douglas, the Special Adviser to the President on Research, Documentation and Strategy, when the fatal accident occurred.

    In a tribute, President Goodluck Jonathan eulogised the late Yakowa, describing him as a “bridge builder’’ who loved his people, irrespective of religious and ethnic considerations.

    “Yakowa was a nationalist. He played his roles very well as a civil servant of the old, not as a civil servant of today. No ethnic or religious divide in his blood,” he said.

    Commenting on the late Yakowa’s death, the Most Rev. Mathew Kukah, the Catholic Archbishop of Sokoto Diocese, said that nobody could neither teach God knowledge nor question His decisions.

    He, therefore, urged the people should not feel despondent over the governor’s death.

    “The deceased died at his appointed time by God,’’ he said, adding that people should disregard those who are wielding suspicious stories about his death.

    Kukah said the late Yakowa made history as the first man from the Christian-dominated southern part of Kaduna State to attain top positions at various levels of government.

    He acknowledged the late Yakowa’s achievements as governor, particularly in development efforts and in promoting unity.

    When renowned jurist Kayode Eso was being interred on December 22, the Primate of the Anglican Church, Rev. Nicholas Okoh, stressed that the only way to immortalise him was for Nigerians to allow justice to prevail in all circumstances.

    Okoh, in a sermon on December 23 during the thanksgiving service held in honour of the late Eso at the Anglican Church of the Holy Trinity in Ilesa, Osun, described the late jurist as a “champion of justice and jurist of the helpless.

    “Unless Nigerians realise that there is value beyond money, the problem of graft and corruption will be difficult for the government to tackle,’’ he, however, said.

    The late Eso, a retired justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria who died in Britain at the ripe age of 87, was given a state burial by the Osun Government in recognition of his courage and fearlessness which stood him out an exceptional jurist.

    The late Dr Olusola Saraki, 79, the strongman of Kwara politics and a Second Republic senator, also died on November 14. Prior to his election as a senator, the consummate politician was a member of the Constituent Assembly which produced the 1979 Constitution.

    The late Saraki, a medical doctor, also worked as a medical officer at the General Hospital, and the Creek Hospital, both in Lagos.

    Other politicians who died during the year include Alhaji Lam Adesina. The 73-year-old former governor of Oyo State, who died on November 11, was described by many as an insightful politician, bridge-builder and a listening leader.

    The movie world was hard hit in 2012 with the deaths of no fewer than 10 actors and actresses, both famous and obscure. Messrs Pete Eneh and Enebeli Elebuwa are two of the renowned actors who lost their lives in the year.

    The late Elebuwa’s career captures the ups and downs of Nigerian life and accurately charts the country’s emergence as a significant producer of talented artistes.

    His march to stardom began as one of the star actors who featured in the legendary television series — The Village Headmaster — which hypnotized the country’s television audience in the 1970s.

    In the 80s, Enebeli became a superstar with his incredibly realistic portrayal of “Andrew’’ — the desperate and frustrated Nigerian who was determined to abandon Nigeria and emigrate to a foreign country in search of greener pastures.

    As 2012 comes to a close, Nigerians say farewell to the dead politicians, actors and actresses and national heroes who had once touched their lives in one way or the other. However, the list of the departed appears inexhaustible.

    All the same, death is inevitable! Perceptive observers urge Nigerians to be mindful of this fact, while they strive to do things that will place them on the good side of history.

    Adieu, our departed souls — the young and the old, the mighty and the low, the strong and the weak, our celebrities and minions — you will greatly be missed.

     

  • Millions gone in Aba market fire

    Goods worth millions of naira have been destroyed in a fire that razed the Yoruba/Lagos Line section of Eziukwu Market in Aba, Abia State.

    An eyewitness, Mr Ijioma Kalu Lekwa, said the fire almost destroyed the herbs and scraps sections of the market.

    He said the fire started around 4pm on Sunday and could not be put out until 2am on Monday.

    According to him, the fire started when most residents were attending social or religious functions and the traders had locked up their shops.

    The resident said the few people around were unable to put out the fire because they did not have sufficient tools.

    Lekwa blamed the security guards at the market for not responding promptly to the fire alert.

    He said: “When we saw the fire, we rushed to alert the market security guards. But they refused to open the gate to enable the people put out the fire. That would have saved some goods.

    “My son and his friends informed the state fire servicemen. But they were told that the fire service did not have water and that their vehicles were bad. So, they said they could not go anywhere.

    “As the fire spread, I laid a pipe from my borehole to supply water to the market, to salvage the situation. Other people were using buckets and other improvised materials to put out the fire as it was getting out of control. Even when our water was exhausted, we switched on our generator to pump more.”

    A trader, who was in pain over his loss, blamed the security guards for not responding promptly when they were alerted.

    He said: “We went to alert the market security guards. But they refused to open the gate to allow people go into the market. We might have saved some people’s goods.

    “I don’t know if they thought we were raising a false alarm. It was when one of them, who was probably returning from a canteen, saw the smoke and what was happening, that he alerted his colleagues. By the time they opened the main gate and allowed people into the market, the situation was already out of hand.”

    The Chairman of Lagos Line Traders Association, Dr Nwaeze Udenwa, said he was attending a wedding ceremony when he was informed about the fire.

    He said the market would have been razed, if not for the few people around.

    Dr Udenwa, who sells roots and spiritual materials, said about 50 shops were razed.

    He hailed the police for protecting the goods recovered from the fire.

    The businessman urged the government and kind-hearted persons to assist the affected traders to return to their businesses.

    Mr Basil Adibe, a timber merchant, said the fire destroyed all his family have laboured for three years after returning from Jos folowing Boko Haram insurgence.

    A scrap dealer, who lost everything to the fire, Mr Aloysius Ukaegbu said: “A few months back, this place was flooded whenever it rained. That affected our business. We were anticipating improved patronage since the rain has stopped. But look at what has happened now! All the goods I had were burnt down. How am I going to start all over again?”

  • Property, cash gone in Onitsha market fire

    Property and cash estimated at billions of naira were lost to a fire that razed the Ogbosisi Market, Onitsha, Anambra State, on Wednesday night.

    The fire reportedly started around 1:30am.

    The traders yesterday protested to the government, accusing the security men at the market of causing the fire.

    They alleged that the vigilance group and former executives of the market conspired to raze the market.

    Their suspicion of the vigilance group was fuelled by the alleged absence of four of them when the traders arrived yesterday morning to assess the damage.

    Police spokesman Ralph Uzoigwe said an investigation was underway.

    Uzoigwe promised that the vigilance group members would be investigated.

    The President-General of the Onitsha Bridgehead Traders Association, Mr. Emeka Ilonze, ruled out an electrical fault as the cause of the fire.

    The businessman alleged that the vigilance group was suspect.

    He said: “I have been here since 3am, when I got information that the market was on fire. I called the police and the fire service; they responded on time. That was why the fire could not escalate to the entire bridgehead market. Several millions of naira and equipment have been lost to the inferno.”

    Ilonze conducted the Transition Committee Chairman of Onitsha South Local Government Area, Mr. Ugochukwu Ezeani, round the burnt market.

    The union leader dismissed the insinuation that the fire started from an electrical fault.

    Ilonze said: “There is no way it could be caused by a machine or electrical fault. But for now, only God and the security men know what caused the fire.”

    The traders were downcast.

    Their colleagues were consoling them.

    A trader, who reportedly lost over N100million goods, Mr. Michael Okoye, said he could not save anything from his shop.

    According to him, he kept cash in his shop.

    Okoye said: “I just got a contract yesterday and the money paid for it was among the cash that got burnt in the shop. Also, my goods that I offloaded yesterday are all gone with the fire. I had a giant machine that cuts wood into various sizes; it was also burnt. I lost over N100million to this fire.”

    Another victim, Mrs. Maria Olikeze, said the cause of the fire was a mystery.

    The trader said she lost everything in her shop to the fire.

    The businesswoman urged the state government and individuals to save her and her family from imminent starvation.

    Ezeani said he was saddened by the damage the fire caused.

    He, however, urged the traders to remain calm till investigation is concluded.

    The council chairman said the government would ensure that the security agencies apprehend the perpetrators.

    He added that the police would probe the vigilance group’s alleged complicity in the incident.