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Tag: holds

  • OBUDU Mountain Race holds November 8

    OBUDU Mountain Race holds November 8

    The 10th edition of the famous Obudu Mountain Race has been slated for November 8, 2014 at the Obudu mountains of Cross River State.

    Details emanating from the Local Organising Committee for the event will be tagged “Mountain Race of the Stars; 6th  African Mountain Running Championship”.

    The Committee’s Chairman, Sir William Archibong revealed  that this year’s event shall be restricted to stars only and participation is based on invitation.

    To this end,the LOC is currently working with the President, African Mountain Race to get the best stars from five African Nations to participate. The essence of the  latest innovation as stated by the committee is to ensure that the 10th edition will attain higher level of achievement and a stronger team of participants.

    Another innovation for this year is the introduction of another race for the youths to take care of the progression from the children’s race to the adult race.  This will ensure that there is proper development of budding talent in mountain running and long distance races.

    The LOC therefore announced that in the children’s category 60 athletes between the ages of 8 to 12 and 40 within 13 to 15 years will be invited to take part. Obudu Mountain race usually a continental championship in the past nine editions prides itself as paying the highest star prize in the history of the competition worldwide. According to the chairman of the LOC, the star prize will be maintained in this edition.

    Meanwhile,as part of preparations for the upcoming event,the State Tourism Bureau has commenced the certification and licensing of all hotels operating in the state to ensure they conform with minimum standards.

  • NANS holds convention

    NANS holds convention

    The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) Zone B, which comprises institutions in Southeast and South-south, has held its annual convention at the College of Education (COE) in Akampka, Cross River State.

    The zone co-ordinator, Chinomso Obasi, thanked the students for attending the conference, adding that the struggle of association was not for selfish gains but sacrifice and patriotism.

    He listed his achievements in the last one year to include the reinstatement of students’ unions in many schools where union activities were proscribed.

    “We made sure that in our administration, we succeeded in establishing duly elected governments for the students’ unions in the zone. Some of the schools were operating with care-taker committees while some had no student government at all. But when we made moves, we caused the managements to see the need to give the students the chance to have their own government,” he stated.

    The Senior Special Adviser (SSA) to the President on Students and Youth Affairs, Hon. Jude Imagwe, praised the students of the Zone for maintaining decorum and peace. He expressed the readiness of the Federal Government to provide platform for students to achieve excellence. He said: “The Federal Government led by Dr Goodluck Jonathan is ready and committed to ensuring that the students come out of school being the best in their fields and disciplines.”

    The election started when the Kadiri Aruna-led committee dissolved the zonal executive members and other standing committees.

    Ikechukwu Okorie emerged as co-ordinator of the zone. Others elected include Richard Ekutu, Deputy Coordinator; Chuks Okafor, Secretary; Paul Eze, Director of Sports; Chibuzo Pedro, Public Relations Officer; Victor Ezenagu, Director of Action and Mobilisation, Aliyu Enadamen, Director of External Affairs; Aniefiok Inyang, Director of Special Duties; Rodney Okwusi, Treasurer; Mercy Ogar, Financial Secretary and Lah Amabu Ledogoh, Assistant Secretary-General.

    Okorie thanked God for his emergence, praising students in the zone for supporting him. He said: “I lack words to express my gratitude. I don’t know what to say but I am most grateful to God and to the senators for electing me to serve in this capacity. I will always be there to serve Nigerian students and I will work with everybody to make sure we realise our objectives.”

  • Sade Foods holds wine tasting

    Sade Foods International, marketers of Chateau de Lengoust, a new world-class wine, produced in Pomerol, France, has held its second wine tasting at The Balmoral Event Centre in Oregun, Lagos.

    The wine, which comes in attractive red colour, smooth taste, fragrant aroma is produced for the high class in the society. Last week, it was also tasted at the Ikoyi Club, where the organisers came up with a survey and the result was encouraging. Guests who tasted the wine praised it.

    The wine’s importer, Mr Damilola Akinnagbe, said: “We are optimistic that Chateau de Lengoust wine is bound to grow in respect to value and volume. It is also competitively priced in a way that it is affordable to everyone who wants quality.”

    He added: “Our bottles of wine are mainly patronised by top retail stores, restaurant owners, hotel beverage directors, distributors and importers.”

    Château de Lengoust is a native of Pomerol in Bordeaux region in France. The grapes used in this bottling are actually clones of vines from this region. The region is well known for it’s excellent wineries with centuries under their achievement belts. the wine with its smooth taste and its fragrant aroma is produced to perfection for the ‘high class’ in the society, but this excellent product is competitively priced in such a manner that it is affordable to everybody who wants quality.

    ‘’From top to bottom, our wine is getting excellent complementary from people who are buyers from the top retailer stores, restaurant owners, hotel beverage directors, distributors and importers.

    ‘’We are proud to say that this wine is feature in most exclusive clubs and hotels in the country with repeat SALES. Château de Lengoust sells itself because a taste of it will convince you that this wine is in a class by itself. This is the finest wine for all occasions including weddings, birthdays, chieftaincy, Thanksgiving, Christmas hampers and Simply treating yourself to a quality wine by enjoying what nature has to offer.”

  • Qatar Airways holds promo

    Qatar Airways holds promo

    QATAR Airways is offering customers in Africa about 20 per cent savings in the Business Class to more than 130 destinations.

    Passengers can save about 20 per cent on their ticket prices if they departed from Kenya, Egypt, Algeria, Ethiopia, Morocco, Mozambique, Rwanda,South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan and Nigeria.

    The promotion, which runs till October 13 to December 18.

    Qatar Airways’frequent flyer programme, Privilege Club members, will earn double Qmiles while booking and travelling on First and Business Class during the promotion.

  • Letters academy holds convocation today

    The Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL) will hold its 15th annual convocation today at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) Main Auditorium.

    It has the theme: Nigeria’s cultural tapestry. Time is 11am.

    A statement by NAL Secretary Prof. Dele Layiwola said the convocation would have three segments: a lecture, investiture of new fellows and a scientific session at which papers on the theme would be presented and discussed.

    Prof. Ayodeji Olukoju will deliver the convocation lecture, entitled: Nigeria’s cultural tapestry and the challenge of development.

    Those to be honoured as fellows are: Prof. Richard Olaniyan (History, Obafemi Awolowo University); Prof. Is-haq Oloyede (Islamics, University of Ilorin) and Prof. Eno-Abasi Urua (Linguistics, University of Uyo).

    NAL said its members are scholars, who have been professors for at least five years in various branches of the humanities.

    “Regular fellows are scholars, who have been professors for at least 10 years and are not only distinguished, but also current in terms of research and publications,” the statement added.

  • Jumia holds online conference

    Online retailer Jumia gathered decision makers to discuss online shopping development. TONIA ‘DIYAN was at the event.

    JUMIA, Nigeria’s lead-ing online retailer, has held the maiden online conference.

    The event, which took place at the Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, had in attendance e-Commerce influencers and decision makers. They discussed the opportunities that online shopping has for the retail market as well as the ways forward in the market.

    The special guest was Minister for Communications Technology Mrs. Omobola Johnson, who delivered the keynote address on e-Commerce and ICT in Nigeria: an Engine for Job Creation and Economic Growth.

    Other speakers were Mr Randy Buday MD of DHL Nigeria; Tayo Oviosu CEO of Pagatech; Titilola Shogaolu Chief payment& Value added Services Officer, Interswitch; Rolayo Akhigbe Divisional Head, Transaction branding, First City Monument Bank; Ekundare Olubunmi Country Manager, Intel West Africa; Tunde Kehinde MD/Co-founder Jumia.com; Raphael Afaedor MD/Co-founder Jumia.com and Ercin Eksin Head of Operations, Jumia.com.

    In her speech, Mrs. Johnson addressed the possibilities that abound in the new technological developments.

    “First, I will like to praise Jumia.com for a well organised event, the first e-commerce conference in Nigeria. The ICT industry is the primary driver of growth in the economy thanks to companies such as Jumia.com that have not only pioneered online retail trade in Nigeria, but also showed Nigerians worldwide that running such a business model within our shores is possible.

    “Online shopping has opened doors for the upcoming generation of young entrepreneurs, especially enterprises like Jumia.com which has provided a platform for young Nigerians to express their creativity while acting as a job creation engine to hundreds of them.”

    “These are the companies that have attracted important investors and have a great impact on Nigeria as a country and as a market place. In line with plans of the government at the federal level, we need companies that know how to make use of these developments to help reshape the economy.”

    Speaking also, Kehinde and Afaedor, said: “We pioneered the online retail market in Nigeria and it is great to see what significant impact this has brought to the economy as mentioned by our keynote speaker. We have shown it is possible and thought it was time to get various stakeholders onboard to discuss issues and ways forward for online shopping.”

    The event was followed by one of the finest fashion shows ever.

  • Ekiti holds health summit

    Ekiti State government has held a summit on the Integrated Supportive Supervision (ISS) across the 16 councils of the state. This was part of efforts at ensuring an effective and quality healthcare delivery in the state.

    The summit which appraised health facilities, level of patient care management, personnel attitude and integration of the community into health system package, also examined the established referral protocol, infrastructure as well as the availability and adequacy of equipment in the state’s health facilities.

    The programme was attended by a broad section of stakeholders including traditional rulers, opinion leaders, health workers, local government caretaker chairmen, supervising councilors for health, medical officers for health at the 16 local councils, officers in charge of the existing 65 health facilities in the state as well as medical record officers in the facilities.

    Speaking at the summit, the State Deputy Governor, Prof Modupe Adelabu, stressed the vital role of the local government in the provision of an effective healthcare delivery.

    Prof Adelabu, who was represented by the Special Adviser in the Office of the Deputy Governor, Hon Bamitale Oguntoyinbo, noted that local government is the closest tier of government to the grassroots, emphasising that the entire task of ensuring free quality healthcare delivery should not be left in the hands of the state government alone.

    The Deputy Governor, however, assured that the Fayemi-led administration would leave no stone unturned in its quest to ensure provision of a free and accessible quality healthcare delivery to residents of the state.

    Charging health workers to judiciously manage all available resources, Adelabu reiterated the determination of the state government to revamp the entire health sector before the end of the year.

  • Monthly sanitation holds in Lagos tomorrow

    THERE will restrictions on vehicular and pedestrian movements tomorrow in Lagos between 7am and 10am, the state government has announced.

    Environment Commissioner Tunji Bello, who dropped the hint, urged Lagosians to observe the monthly sanitation programme by cleaning up drains and canals within their neighbourhood.

    He said the cleaning and clearing of drains and canals became necessary following meteorologist warnings that Lagos and other states in the Southwest will experience heavy downpour and severe thunderstorms this year.

    According to him, the state government has concentrated its actions on activities that would reduce flooding.

    Besides, he informed that his ministry has embarked on massive dredging, cleaning and maintenance of drainage channels ahead of the predicted rains.

    Bello, however, urged residents to be on the alert but remain calm as government has put in place measures to contain flooding challenges.

    He re-assured residents that government would go to any length to protect lives and properties in the State of Aquatic Splendor.

    The commissioner was quoted as saying in a statement: “Lagosians must desist from the habits of dumping refuse in drainage channels and acts compromising drainage alignment, such as building and erection of stalls on drainage setbacks among others.

    “The essence is to allow easy passage of rainstorm which is ultimate goal of this administration.”

    He warned that environmental sanitation law enforcers including; the police and officials of the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI), have been fully mobilised to enforce compliance.

    He reminded inter-state travelers to obey the rules as ignorance cannot be an excuse for offenders.

  • Lagos Assembly holds special session for Wole Awolowo

    The Lagos State House of Assembly yesterday held a lying-in-state/special valedictory session for its former member and publisher of the Tribune, Chief Oluwole Awolowo, who died on March 27 in a London hospital.

    He was 70. The deceased was a member of the Assembly from 1979 to 1983.

    The ash-colour casket bearing Awolowo’s remains arrived at the Assembly complex in a motorcade at exactly 10:20am from the Murtala Mohammed Airport.

    Speaker Adeyemi Ikuforiji described the deceased as an exceptional man, who upheld the legacies of his father, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

    Ikuforiji said the Assembly was holding the special session partly because it did not have the opportunity to honour the late Awolowo’s father when he died.

    He said: “Today’s session is exceptional because the House, by tradition, only holds valedictory parliamentary sessions for former speakers and any member, who dies in service.

    “The House, in its wisdom, decided to host this session in line with Shakespeare’s saying that ‘when beggars die, there are no comets seen; heavens themselves blaze for the death of princes’.

    “Though the late Oluwole was born with a silver spoon, he was always cool headed and peace-loving. He was an embodiment of humility and very patriotic, going by the meritorious role he played in this House as a lawmaker.”

    On the deceased’s role in the development of Lagos State, Deputy Speaker Taiwo Kolawole said: “I knew him to be the heir of the Awolowo family and studied his reports on the floor of the House as a lawmaker representing Apapa. He loved his people and constituency. The complaint he made then about Apapa in one of the reports is the same complaint we are still making today.”

    Kolawole said the late Awolowo once protested against the bringing of a foreigner to head a government parastatal.

    Chairman of the House Committee on Education Wahab Alawiye-King said the late Awolowo had a mind of his own.

    Alawiye-King said at 17, the late Awolowo decided to join the opposition party, the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC), even though his father was the leader and founder of the progressive Action Group (AG).

    He said the late publisher impacted positively on the lives of the common people by “moving some of the life-changing motions on the floor of the House in the first and second assemblies”.

    Mr. Rotimi Olowo (Shomolu I) said the deceased lived a modest life worthy of emulation.

    Olowo said: “His ability to manage the family deserves emulation. He was a great manager of people and assets and a great welfarist, who decided not to have a car at the expense of his staff.”

    Mr. Bisi Yusuf said the late sage inspired him to become a politician. He said the senior Awolowo had no rival in terms of his contributions to the society, especially as regards free education in the Western Region.

    Mr. Ipoola Omisore eulogised the deceased for upholding his father’s legacies, such as the Tribune, considering the fact that all its contemporaries have become moribund.

    At the session were top government officials, past and present members of the Assembly.

    They included former Governor Lateef Jakande; Senator Olabiyi Durojaiye; Senator Anthony Adefuye; National Publicity Secretary of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) Alhaji Lai Mohammed; Prince Abiodun Ogunleye; former Speaker Jokotola Pelumi; a former commissioner, Chief Lanre Razak and a former Attorney-General, Yomi Osinbajo.

  • Joy as Elegba festival holds in Lagos

    The week-long celebration of the annual Elegba festival by the Elegushi royal family Lagos ended on colourful note last weekend.

    The Elegushi of Ikateland, Oba Saheed Ademola Elegushi and his subjects spared nothing was spared to make the outing memorable. It was indeed, a renewal of an ancient pact with their source.

    The festival attracted the sons and daughters of the community from far and near. It is dedicated to Elegba, the deity that ensures peace, tranquility and prosperity among members of the community.

    The Elegba shrine, called Agbo Elegba, is where elaborate sacrifices are performed to appease the deity. As early as 9 am last Friday, the ceremony kicked off. Only the Olofin of Ikateland, the coordinator of the festival, wore a ceremonial white attire in line with tradition.

    Other worshippers left the upper parts of their bodies bare. Men tied white loin clothes around their waists; women covered their chests.

    Beaming with satisfaction, Elegushi, with his white-cap walked to the Agbo Elegba, to perform the traditional rites. Shortly after the monarch and the chiefs were ushered in amid traditional praise songs, they were at the shrine to pay homage to the gods. The traditional breaking of kolanuts, Ikunlepabi, followed after Oba Elegushi and his chiefs returned from the shrine. The exercise determines the mood of the gods.

    The divination session followed. Kolanuts were shared among all, irrespective of class, age or status. Animals including snail, cock, goat, dog and pig were slaughtered to appease the gods.

    It is believed that the water from snail, if robbed all over the devotees’ bodies would ward off all manners of communicable diseases. It was shared among all at the festival A big gong was beaten and the worshippers went jubilant with hearty songs of praises for the Elegba.

    The sacrifices over, a gallon of palm oil was poured on the shrine, signalling the successful appeasement of Esu with promises of diverse goodies for the people. Then, merriment kicked off.

    Excitedly, Oba Elegushi and his chiefs moved into an inner chamber within the premises to wait for the masquerades that came much later to celebrate with the people.

    The Elegba festival is celebrated to usher in a new year and to ensure peace in the community.

    Prince Anofi Olanrewaju Elegushi, the Chairman of Eti-Osa Local Government, refuted the notion that Elegba is a cult group or secret society, saying that it is a royal festival in hosted only by Olofin’s children and not an all comers’ affair. “It is a reminder of the genuineness and beauty of Lagos ancestral heritage,” he said, adding that the festival had, over the years, bonded all settlements created by Olofin together, thereby bringing peace and unity.

    Erelu Lola Ladoja, the Erelu of Ikate Elegushi said women from the kingdom where Elegba Festival is held usually play very prominent roles in making it a success.

    Oba Saheed Elegushi expressed satisfaction at the success of the event, saying: “As it happened last year, I’m delighted at this year’s outing and more importantly, we are sure of another blissful and prosperous year for all in my kingdom.”

    “From our experience over the years, it goes without saying that tradition, if faithfully observed, plays a major role in ensuring a peaceful and largely prosperous society and its people. We are expecting another good year,” the monarch added.