Niger State Governor Abubakar Sani Bello and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rival, Alhaji Umar Nasko, will today know their fate regarding the outcome of the 2019 general election.
The Niger State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal will rule on the petition challenging the re-election of Bello.
At the 23rd General Assembly of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, last week, Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed explained that the Federal Government was planning a national summit on the role of youths and women in tourism as part of efforts to harness their talents in developing the sector. Some stakeholders in the creative industry, however, think differently on how best the sector can be repositioned, Assistant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME reports
Some months after assuming office in 2015, Alhaji Lai Mohamed held consultative meetings with many stakeholders in the creative industry on how to chart a new path for the development of the sector. Among such was the national summit on culture and tourism held in Abuja in May 2016 and the economic forum in Lagos. What were the outcomes of these forums and why plan another?
According to the minister, “it’s incontestable today that the industry that creates jobs fastest is tourism. It’s one industry that creates jobs for women, and it’s one industry that encourages youths.”
He said it was clear from presentations at the meetings that tourism was gradually overtaking other aspects of the economy as a major player for development and equality.
Stressing the need to harness talents, he said Nigeria would leverage its comparative advantage, which includes a rich culture and a blooming music and film industry, to take its tourism sector to the next level.
But as Nigeria continues to seek new ways of diversifying its economy from dependency on oil revenue, stakeholders believe the sector is capable of providing veritable means of creating wealth, generate employment opportunities, increase revenue and growth.
According to a report, in 2016, the film industry contributed 2.3 per cent (N239 billion) to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while music industry grew by nine per cent in that same year to reach a value of $39 million. “It is also set to grow by 13.4 per cent by 2021, with an estimated worth of about $73 million…The value of video game industry is put at $150 million, while mobile gaming estimates are to surpass $147 million by 2020,” the report added.
How can the nation raise the bar as well as achieve these projections during the second coming of the Information and Culture Minister?
Renowned playwright, director and former Deputy Editor, The Guardian, Mr. Ben Tomoloju, observed that Mohammed’s first tenure witnessed some positive marks in the interaction between the ministry and certain segments of the creative industry. He, however, noted that it was rather inconclusive, adding that Mohammed’s second coming should set the sector on the path of administrative and professional excellence and national relevance.
“The government policy of financial empowerment and capacity building of the sector should be pursued to a phased logical conclusion this time around. Some people never agreed with us that government had a vital role to play in establishing structures for the development of cultural productivity in the visual, literary and performing arts. They treated such idea with disdain and made it look beggarly.
“Today, virtually everyone on both sides of the argument is celebrating the Lagos theatres to the high heavens. Mohammed dropped a hint of a possible collaboration between the Federal and Lagos State governments to rehabilitate the National Theatre, Iganmu. Good intention, but he must attend to the demands of the theatre monument in the same manner as Lagos State is delivering on Community Theatre project.
“Really, the untimely death of our dear colleague and former GM of the National Theatre, Dr. Stella Oyedepo (May her soul rest in peace.) seems to have slowed down the pace of redeeming public respect and patronage of the facility. She was right on course before death snatched her away, ” he said.
Tomoloju, who earlier in 2015, expressed optimism about the capacity of the administration to propel arts and culture to greater heights, noted that with the benefit of hindsight such expectations were only partly because the minister oftentimes allows his political partisanship to override the objective variables of cultural nationalism.
He said the vacuum at the headship of the National Theatre following the sudden death of Mrs Oyedepo requires a critical and sagacious succession plan to fill.
According to him, the minister must not allow the cultural sector to experience the kind of retrogressive political appointment that brought up the current occupant of the headship of the National Troupe of Nigeria. To him, ‘the troupe as at today, is in a total state of inertia which, unfortunately, seems to suggest that the head was appointed to ‘come and kill’ (permit my local lingo) the Troupe.’
“Alhaji Lai Mohammed must do his best to redress this ugly, I mean really ugly situation considering the noble efforts of eminent Nigerians towards establishing the troupe exploratorily pre-FESTAC and practically in 1986, that was 33 years ago.
“The right experts should man the various agencies to bring forth positive results. Such experts should include tested culture administrators within the agencies even as there are considerations for technocrats outside the ministry,” he added.
Tomoloju expressed concern about succession and delivery because of the flow and ebb, the rise and fall in the fortunes of the cultural sector as indexed under one administration or another. He noted that, for instance, the fortune of the National Gallery of Art during the tenure of Joe Musa would have to be re-examined and duly acknowledged as a standard bearer, which can provide a template for rejuvenation.
“I once read a report quoting the new Acting Director-General, Dr. Simon Ikpakronyi, saying that the National Gallery of Arts will not be dormant again. This is a seasoned administrator in the system who was a contributor to the successes of the past until intrigues took over,” he said.
Tomoloju described the mandate of Mohammed as a wide terrain which, he said, covers not only the regular professions, but also in the areas of culture, the arts and education, arts and social mobilisation, culture and national economy, among others.
“Lai Mohammed’s second coming should set the sector on the path of administrative and professional excellence and national relevance…
“He is in the saddle and we must wish him the very best. But, this is also with the insistence that the Honorable Minister devotes attention to his dual portfolio – Information and Culture – on the basis of equity and not see the latter as a political afterthought,” he added.
Professor Emeritus, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, USA, Prof. dele jegede, urged the Minister of Information and Culture to stir the spirit of the country towards lofty heights by focusing on initiatives that will entrench culture not as abstract and fugitive concepts, but as concrete manifestations that reinforce the dynamics at play in a diverse, creative and multitalented state.
The challenge, he said, is to focus on constructing memorable projects that are guaranteed to stand as signature accomplishments during his tenure at the ministry. Towards this end, he advised the minister to build a befitting edifice for the art and give Nigeria-the country whose ancestors created the exquisite works in Nok, Igbo-Ukwu and Ile-Ife, and whose scions at home and abroad have continued to bring accolades to Nigeria-a lasting edifice in the form of a befitting National Gallery of Art.
“Pull out all the stops. Shake loose the trees. Roll up your sleeves and put your shoulders to it. Nigeria needs, as an index of the Next Level agenda, nothing less than an erection, not the Okorocha type, a functional edifice to the art. A nation without a national gallery indirectly contributes to the effacement of its own culture and the marginalisation of its own history,” he said.
The absence of such facility, he said, tells the world that its critical archives of creative history are available to be taken on the cheap.
According to him, the institutionalisation of structures that stand the test of time is a credible way to demonstrate that governance is not a zero-sum act. “It is more than sloganeering; it could, and should, especially at the Ministry of Information and Culture, be all about commitment to the entrenchment of those aspects of our culture that have the potentials of attesting to the present while inspiring the future,” Prof jegede said.
After an initial hint of a possible hike in the Value Added Tax (VAT) earlier in the year, the Federal Government appears to be plodding on with last week’s Federal Executive Council’s approval of a review of the rate from five to 7.2 percent.
Briefing journalists at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting last week, Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, stated that the “council has agreed that we start the process towards the increase of the VAT rate. We are proposing and council has agreed to increase the VAT rate from five per cent to 7.2 per cent”.
We must admit that the proposal has been on the drawing board for a while. Notably, the immediate past Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma, and Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Babatunde Fowler, actually made the case at their appearance before the Senate Committee on Finance to explain the details of the 2019-2021 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper, in March.
The FIRS chair was quoted as telling the committee then: “By the end of this year, we should be ready for an increase in VAT. A lot of Nigerians travel to Ghana and other West African countries and they can see that theirs is much higher. They pay when they go on those trips. We should be ready for an increase on VAT.”
Among the reasons the duo gave was the need to fund the new national minimum wage. Last week, the finance minister echoed the same argument: the need to boost the revenue accruable to state governments, more so now that “the states need additional revenue to be able to meet the obligations of the minimum wage.”
We agree that the states and local governments need all the funds that they can get, not just because of the additional burden from the review of the minimum wage but also to enable them deliver on critical infrastructure. And VAT is after all, easy to collect and perhaps less disruptive in administration when compared with other taxes. Moreover the last review was done by the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2007. Even then, that exercise, which saw the rate hiked from five to 10 percent, was later cancelled by the succeeding administration of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua in the face of strident opposition by labour.
These are ordinarily compelling arguments. Unfortunately, Nigerians, most of whom are already done in by the excruciating poverty, declining real incomes and governments’ pathetic records of service delivery are unlikely to be persuaded on the need to shoulder any additional burden under any guise, particularly at this time. Considering that real incomes have actually been falling over time, with government unable to tame the inflationary pressure, Nigerians would be right to oppose a measure designed to further burden them.
Yes, the government needs funds to deliver on its promises. But then, it is simply not about asking citizens to pay more taxes when all they see at all levels of governments are demonstrable wastes and corruption. Simply put: governments haven’t done enough to curb wastes and corruption not to talk of trimming the albatrosses that the bureaucracies have become. That done, the case for a VAT hike would be easier.
We urge the Federal Government to tread carefully. At this time, the economy will be better served with policies designed to boost, rather than constrict, consumption. Policies designed to assist states to boost their tax collection capabilities should be topmost on the agenda of the Federal Government now; just as a VAT hike is akin to toeing a line of least resistance.
ABCDEFGGHI=Avoid Bribery & Corruption Daily Everywhere For Good Governance Here Immediately.
All tribute to Pa Akintola Williams, eminent accountant and distinguished Nigerian professional colossus, reputation unscathed, at 100 years of age and an age rarely achieved in any world context. It would be interesting to have notes on his diet and that of all over 80s as diet is identified as an important contribution to healthy longevity. But be aware there is no rigid diet for long life. Remember it is written that ‘Man does not live by food [and drink] alone’ Long life is by the Grace of God but you can help by good choices in lifestyle and regular exercise, but not necessarily strenuous exercise, dealing adequately with stress and refusing excess of everything- particularly sugar, salt, oily foods and alcohol.
Genes and the environment, clean or dirty of smoky, also play key roles. Being content and of happy disposition are essential as anger and hatred eat the body of the angry and hating. Poor environment is bad for the brain and the body especially the lungs. Congratulations sir, for a balanced and exemplary life. Citizens be aware that everyone, everywhere in Nigeria, in West Africa, in Africa, in every continent can take a step towards a universal healthy long life if they practice and teach their family and friends and workers and students one thing. You remember that we have taught girls and women and now men to do a Monthly Breast Examination, MBE, looking for lumps requiring further investigation to prevent cancer of the breast. It works even though too many young girls, captive in schools escape being taught properly this important preventive measure!
It should be easy for the WHO and ministries of health to drive everyone, worldwide, to extend this success to the rest of the body and recognise the importance of the next big step – the Monthly Total Body Examination. The MTBE is a monthly exam of your body, by you and for your benefit, from head to the sole of your feet, including everywhere, neck, arms, armpits, groin, legs and soles of the feet- all best done while initially standing, if possible in front of a mirror. Then the abdomen is best examined lying down on the floor or your bed and pressing the abdomen in from top to groin feeling for masses in the abdomen, while breathing in and out. Draw a body on a sheet of paper and pin it up in your bedroom, your children’s room, the classroom, office, school and office notice board. Maybe every Ministry of Health needs to recommend this and even suggest a date eg 1st or 25th of the month for a national MTBE by all citizens.
We are so busy with the shards and shreds of life politics throws at us that we have forgotten that we really can delay unnecessary death by servicing the needs of life including self-examination to catch disease early.
We had an expressway. It was taken away from us. Government incompetence is brilliantly manifest by the catastrophic chaos that is mistakenly and nostalgically called the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, after 20 year zero maintenance -perhaps a million vehicle, 10 million citizens a week. This is a disaster of Nigerian proportions. The expressway has fallen from a mid-70s ’45-minute drive’ to Ibadan to a travel nightmare of unpredictable length. Yet no single government official has apologised for such incompetence, corruption and no name has been shamed by ICPC or EFCC.
Government has historical and current guilt in this travesty of maintenance by allowed tolling with no maintenance, no pothole filled and no grass cut routinely, robbers, redirection of N150b by the 8th NASS and a total national failure to reduce maximum axle loads. When will it be as it was in the beginning? Germany’s Autobahn, Britain’s M1, built in the 50s-60s are still good due to ‘Compulsory Maintenance’. Why is ‘Compulsory Maintenance’ such a dirty and neglected and optional words in Nigerian politics? Complete the dismal picture with the Apapa Port road, our $9.6b fine and the tens of unproductive billions ‘misspent’ on ‘no electricity’. Add the cost and losses of the Enugu airport closed till December.
Re-think VAT please! With any new VAT charges we require new VAT distribution rules. Let us keep VAT in the states of origin or allocate 60 -80% of VAT for use within the state of origin of the VAT. States who ban alcohol and terrorise nightlife have no right to demand VAT benefits from states which allow such activities. Morality is morality. Already this is a very amoral society when funds are wrongly distributed, by previous and ingrained and apparently immovable government fiat, between federal and states and LGAs. It is common knowledge that the states and especially the LGAs where immorally distributed between North and South giving serious financial benefits to the North. It is time for the VAT to stay where it was made.
Nigeria’s slow discourse with the US on reducing our fees resulted in the US imposed a ‘reciprocity’ fee. It did not have to come to this if the government was acting in the interests of Nigerian. This is the typical fire brigade approach to local, state, national and international issues. Our leadership is allowed to ‘postpone the day of reckoning’ with no consequence except to the victims, innocent citizens of Nigeria, at every societal level.
It has become imperative for us as a government to map out new policies that would guide how ‘okada’ riders operate in Lagos State. This would stem the tide of accidents and indiscriminate use of ‘okada’ on Lagos roads,” Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said on September 6, while marking 100 days in office. As the governor rightly noted, the review became necessary to enable the government control commercial motor cycle operations and assure Lagosians of safety.
‘Okada’ as a means of transportation was relatively unknown in Lagos until the late 1980s. However, the allures of the state soon became irresistible for many people in different parts of the country who left their respective towns and villages for Lagos, to have a feel of city life that Lagos offers. It was therefore a question of time for the state to witness a population explosion which, sadly, was unanticipated and therefore overstretched facilities provided for Lagosians.
It was also a question of time for the inadequacies of ‘okada’ as a means of transportation to unfold. It is now fashionable to see them ride on the state’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system corridors even as they ride against traffic and disobey every known traffic law with impunity. Indeed, the menace of ‘okada’ riders, especially in Lagos, is beyond description. Even though they provide some crucial services, their activities in a 21st century Nigeria showcases the country in a very bad light, beyond the tragedies of accidents and some robbers using same as get-away vehicles.
Mercifully, the Babatunde Fashola administration that ruled the state from 2007-2015, saw through these defects in their operations and made relevant laws restricting their activities to certain roads in the state. Such was the success of the administration’s policy on ‘okada’ that the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos, which had dedicated a ward specifically to casualties of ‘okada’ accidents recorded a massive drop in the number of patients brought to the ward and commended the state government for making this happen.
Even the police authorities in the state applauded the administration for the sharp drop in crime rate. The problem was that the Ambode administration which succeeded Fashola’s government was lax in enforcing the law and, ‘okada’ riders soon returned to their old ways.
It is against this backdrop that we commend the incumbent government for its plan to ensure that sanity returns to ‘okada’ operations in the state, if the riders must continue to be on roads in the state., Without doubt, their activities in Lagos obviously fill some gaps in the transportation sector; but then these must be regulated in the interest of Lagosians. We are therefore glad that the government, having observed these lapses in ‘okada’ operations, is ready to do what governments do – take care of the welfare of the people, which includes the riders themselves.
We however advise that the government subtly but firmly implements the ‘okada’ policy in ways that the system does not feel the grave human shock that might be considered insensitive. Most of the operators of ‘okada’ are illiterate, unskilled and unlicensed riders with no training and no knowledge of traffic rules. They must be communicated to through institutions in the state in languages they can understand.
Beyond these intended policies, however, the government must quickly co-opt transporters in the private sector as even the small commercial buses have outlived their usefulness. The government must be firm in implementation of well-thought-out plans to rejig the transportation sector with better roads and sea ways. Implementation must be very well planned and strictly handled to eschew political permissiveness.
If the truth must be told, Lagos has no business sanctioning ‘okada’. Indeed, allowing their operations is a defeatist approach and not the solution to the state’s transportation crisis. ‘Okada’ is a sign of chronic underdevelopment and ultimately, it must be phased out in the state. Indeed, if we consider the social implications, no one would go near it.
I once read the story of a teacher who stood before a class full of students and showed them a hundred Dollar bill in mint condition. He asked if anyone wanted it and instantly, all hands were up, indicating that they wanted the money. He said “hold on a moment”, and he squeezed the money in his hand thereby making it pretty rough. He straightened out the bill and showed it to the students; it didn’t look as good as it did before. He asked them, “who wants this one hundred Dollar bill?” Once again, all the students indicated interest.
“Just a minute” he said, as he dropped the money on the floor and stamped on it several times. The students watched wide-eyed, wondering what their teacher was up to. Finally, he picked up the money with the tip of his fingers as if trying to avoid dirtying his hands, and looked at the faces of his students. Then he asked again, “Now, who still wants this money?” For the third time, all hands were up. He smiled and said, “I squeezed the money and I stamped on it. It is no more as attractive as it used to be. Why do you still want it?” One of the students responded, “for as long as the money remains in one piece, its value doesn’t change irrespective of what you do to it”.
The story above is very instructive. Some people have been through such difficult times that they no longer believe they are worth much. From the story, we can learn that:
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Recently, the term xenophobia, simply a hate for foreigner, people of other tribes, ethnic nationality, religion or even region has entered popular consciousness, due largely to orchestrated attacks against foreigners in South Africa by largely unemployed and angry youths. The twin evil to xenophobia, chauvinism which thrives on racial, tribal, ethnic and religious arrogance is no less toxic. Both xenophobia and chauvinism are manifest bile of hatred and arrogance, but they are not autonomous human behavior and disposition rather are profound manifestation of social discontents.
The obvious crises of colonial domination were exclusion of indigenous population from meaningful political, economic and social life and the obvious remedy was decolonization. But the logic of colonialism was capitalist expansion from its metropolitan birthplace to the world peripheries; especially in Africa where it sought markets, raw materials and cheap labour. The crises of contemporary state in Africa is unconnected with the fact that independence did not alleviate the backward Africa’s role, of a rudimentary capitalist artery, featuring essentially as a marginal and the weakest link in the global capitalist chain, which itself is experiencing rupture in its most advanced metropolitan enclave.
The promise of national liberation and independence in Africa is actually a new deal for the workers, peasants, professionals but the economic structure directly to colonial domination did not transform to autonomous and independent development, the equivalent of political independence and therefore remained exclusionary of the vast majority of the African people. Today, the struggle for the small space of exclusionary capitalist development fuels hate among nationalities, breeds arrogance of one group against another and drives a wedge among groups who mutually trade blames for lost of shrinking opportunities. The inabilities of various African regimes and governments to transit from the capitalist economic exclusion of the majority of the working population to non-capitalist inclusion resulted in the powerful social alienation that sweeps across the continent and creates in its wake of bile of inter-communal hate and hostilities with its more toxic transnational variant, popularly called xenophobia now. As capitalism enters a terminal crises and its global driver and outreach of imperialist domination showing evident signs of fatigue for overreaching itself, Africa would consequentially boom in shocks and what is now known as xenophobia are early sign of things to come. Across Africa, neo-liberal reforms have come a full circle which while offering the state a marginal role in economic planning and definition of economic priorities, features the state only in the exclusive role of the guardian of private capital and its foreign speculators.
Because capitalist economic development narrowly focuses on the market, itself narrowly defined by the demands of monopoly finance capital, the broad range of opportunities naturally available from the expansive market of Africa’s growing demand do not feature in the policy framework of most governments in Africa. The narrowing space of neo-capitalist economic order in Africa means that the broad mass of the working people, whose roles would have been indispensable in the expansion of the continent’s economic base are currently out of sync with so-called “reality” of today. Today, African governments are in the fore front of the attack of organized labour and the dignity of labour. The brutal attack on organized labour and their trade union movement at the behest of monopoly finance capital erodes the critical and strategic base on which African economies would have taken off on value multiplying trajectories, with a reasonable possibility to absorb the army of youth entrants to the labour market. The ubiquitous call for entrepreneurship should naturally be supported with a framework of integrated national and regional economies in which synergy is created through inter-sectoral connectivity. The offensives of African governments against working people through harsh labour laws, the most notorious being casualization through which workers are vulnerable to the whims of employers puts a lid on the creative productivity and consequently spike the economic bases for sustainable growth and inclusive development.
The demonization of the public sector in Africa as a drain on public resources and consequent canonization of the private capital as the modern harbinger of Africa’s renaissance are mere myths and fables of neo-capitalist economic order that cannot stand the rigour of scientific interrogation. And the critical missing link in most of Africa’s economic policy paradigm is the scientific interrogation of the specific national reality of various African countries. The bias of neo-liberalism sold out to most of the continent’s governments since the early 1990s and have not yielded any appreciable outcome is still in high regard, despite the serial social implosion that trailed it.
South Africa whose militant anti-colonial movement was most ferocious; having aroused the most wide-spread anti-colonial consciousness and conversely, the expectation that liberation would improve living condition was also more widespread. The wing of neo-liberal elite in the liberation movement allied to international finance monopoly capital triumphed over the most advanced vanguard whose finest and most charismatic representative comrade Chris Hani was assassinated immediately after the collapse of apartheid. With an economic structure of neo-capitalism hardly weaned off from its apartheid strangle-hold, the mass of workers brought out and roused to anti-colonialism was immediately abandoned by capitalism. Tragically, in the re-enactment of their traditional anti-apartheid militancy, the rudderless youths venting frustration at their miserable social condition and lack of opportunities, took to venting anger in the ogre of looting and vandalization of foreigner’s properties. As the so-called private capital compromise the integrity of the state in Africa through bribery binge that fuels corruption across the continent, the society stands at the cross-roads of deconstruction and possible melt down. But the crises in Africa today is not just the failure of leadership, but the abysmal failure of the intellectual community to initiate a discourse of a fresh impetus for socialist modernization, with its prospects of inclusive and sustainable economic development and functional democratic participation.
The general perception at least in Nigeria that xenophobia is an organized orchestrated attacks against foreigners and even tacitly approved by the government of South Africa is simplistic and misguided. It is almost like the routine here, that alleged Fulani herdsmen are the bandits hacking down farmers, has the tacit support of the federal government. These tendencies are malaise of neo-capitalist economic order, whose key feature is exclusion and marginalization of majority of working people, whose struggle for slim opportunities result in reinventing themselves as primordial social categories in other to antagonize one another. The privileged elite and their private sector allies despite the sound bites of routine platitudes actually enjoy moderating bestial fisticuffs of people against themselves.
As part of efforts to alleviate the sufferings of the downtrodden in the society, NASFAT Agency for ZAKAT and SADAQAT (NAZAS), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), donated cash gift and work tools valued at N20 million to 279 less privileged. The NGO, established to give succour to the needy, also provided health insurance scheme for Missioners and their immediate families. Venue of the event was the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, Lagos State Chapter at Ikeja.
For the 279 beneficiaries, it was indeed a life-changing experience. However, before the donation, Chairman, Board of Directors of the agency, Mr. Niyi Yusuf, presided over a general meeting during which he presented a score card for the past years. Yusuf said that the agency had received tremendous support from members and other public-spirited Nigerians for its Zakat obligations over the past one year.
According to Yusuf, NAZAS started five years ago, and has since mobilised more than N174 million from which over 676 poor individuals had benefited from both at Ramadan and Muharram (first month of the Islamic year) public disbursements and other routine and emergency disbursements.
He said: “This was made possible through regular payment of Zakat and Sadaqat by you and other donors. The clamour for us to scale up our game by going beyond the regular N40 million marks in fund receipts was achieved this year as we finally crossed the N40 million lines last year and we have already crossed the N55 million thresholds this year. We hope to cross the N60 million mark.
“Health is wealth. I am pleased to report that last year, the board, approved that we institute a health insurance package for Imams and Missioners (both NASFAT and non-NASFAT) to promote the health and well-being of the Imams and their immediate families. This year, we have enrolled the initial set of 12 Imams and Missioners with the Lagos State Health Management Authority. Working with the Lagos State League of Imams and Alfas, and with your financial support, we hope to enroll more Imams and Missioners in the period ahead.”
Ms Mariam Amidu, alongside 37 others, benefitted from the N1.88 million set aside for education support and scholarship for the needy.
Mrs Amidu, 21, and student of the University of Lagos, said she cannot wait to share the testimony with her mother.
“I never knew my father, and paying school fees has always been a problem for me and my siblings. With this scholarship, I can now pay attention to my studies and achieve my dreams of being an accountant. May the Almighty Allah continue to bless all those who have sacrificed their hard earned money for people like me to go to school. I am so grateful to NAZAS,” she said.
Mr. Jubril Jimoh and 14 others with deteriorating health conditions shared N4.862 million. And six others received N510, 000 to offset their debts.
Another beneficiary, Jimoh Jubril, said that in the last four years,*/ he has exhausted all he had on his ailment without healing. “I was diagnosed with acute diabetes. I have initially spent over N420, 000 managing it before I was slammed with another N400,000 bill again. But, I had no money anymore hence I resorted to call for help.
“Luck finally shined on me through a friend’s wife who came to check on me in the hospital and suggested I reach out to NASFAT. I did and surprisingly, they have come to my aid. I am so grateful to them and to Allah the most benevolent,” Jubril said.
Twelve NAZAS Imams and Missionaries, and one of their wives and any of four of their children were placed under the recently launched Lagos State Health Insurance Scheme valued at N400, 000 per year.
While 148 petty traders, mostly of physically challenged people received cash donations, work tools such as sewing machines, refrigerators, among others worth N14.2 million.
One of the beneficiaries of the items, Mrs. Silifat Daramola, who broke down in tears after receiving a deep freezer and a cash donation to support her trade said: “I didn’t entirely believe when I was informed that I would be among those that would benefit from Zakat today. This is because I have always ended up being disappointed by other groups whom I had earlier run to for help. They would call for empowerment but at the end of the day, nothing comes out of it.
“But today, NAZAS has put smiles on my face. They didn’t only give me deep freezer but also a sum of money. May the Almighty Allah continue to bless everyone in the agency and wipe away their tears just as they have wiped mine.”
Yusuf said that the donation is the second disbursement this year to commemorate the new Islamic year. “So, today is the symbolic disbursement of N20 million to over 250 beneficiaries reflecting the donations we have received from different donors during Ramadan period and we hope that this would help bring succour to many Nigerians.
On how to apply as a beneficiary, Yusuf said: “To apply as a beneficiary of Zakat, we advise people to come and collect form in our office, or download it online and fill it, but they would still have to come physically to submit the forms in our office.”
The first event of the 2019 Felabration, the Afrobics Dance Competition, is scheduled on Saturday, September 21, at the New Afrika Shrine, Ikeja, Lagos.
Judges are Funke Kuti, Liadi Adedayo, Segun Adefila, Jahman Anikulapo and Kunle Kuti.
Tagged “From Lagos With Lagos”, this edition of the festival will host different activities from September 21 to October 20, across Lagos and other cities of the world.
On September 28, Kalakuta Museum will host the Artwork Competition viewing and cocktail while the Secondary Schools Debate will hold at the Freedom Park, Lagos on October 9.
On October 14, the Fela Debates: Symposium will hold at NECA Hall, Ikeja; and on the same day, the music concerts will commence at the New Afrika Shrine and last till October 20.
Over 400 Nigerian and foreign artistes have indicated interest to perform at the event.
Fela Anikulapo Kuti, a musician and multi-instrumentalist, was born to Reverend Oludotun and Mrs. Funmilayo Ransome Kuti in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on October 15, 1938. He used his music to address societal ills and was a victim of oppression by the military regime who harassed him frequently and jailed him many times. Seeking emancipation of the Black Race, Fela canvassed a better social, economic and political future for Africa. He died on August 2, 1997 in Lagos from HIV complications as announced by his late elder brother and former Minister of Health, Dr. Olikoye Ransome Kuti.
Felabration was founded by his daughter, Yeni Kuti, as an annual festival to honour the ideals that Fela stood for.
Currently enjoying a tour of her new release “49-99”, singer-songwriter Tiwa Savage has explained the meaning and idea behind the song.
The song, which was released on September 5, has recorded nearly two million YouTube views less than three weeks after its release.
At a listening party, Tiwa said “49-99” stands for “Forty-nine seating, ninety-nine standing,” a phrase coined by the late Afrobeat maestro, Fela Kuti, in his 1978 track, “Suffering and Smiling”, adding that a transit bus serves as a case study.
“It ought to have only 49 seated passengers,” she said, “however, due to poor economic conditions; we often have nearly twice that number of passengers standing. For those who are not Nigerian, we have these transit buses which we call ‘molue’ and it has 49 seats.
“So instead of it to have 49 people commuting to work and back, you have 49 people sitting and double that standing, hanging… That’s just a reflection of the economy and the imbalances with the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. So, the song, even when you first listen to it – it’s a great record (laughs) – it’s one you can zanku to and dance to.”
Speaking on the motive behind the “49-99” campaign, Tiwa said: “I wanted my first global single to have a message that we are suffering and smiling, and music is a powerful tool. I wanted a title which could be a conversation starter like 49 people sitting and 99 people standing… like we’re suffering and smiling.”
Tiwa also said a phone call from Olamide and Pheelz led to 49-99.
Directed by Meji Alabi, scenes from the video show iconic portraits of Congolese schoolgirls taken in 1972 by photographer Eliot Elisofon. Another scene in which Savage is laid out with lengthy braids is reminiscent of Diana Ross’ flower-like look from the late 60s.
The 2018 MTV base Europe award winner further explained in details what the video portrayed.
“Everything was Nigerian, everybody was Nigerian, it was done in Lagos, Meji and Jimmy films shot it, overall creative direction came from Ibra Ake. It was important to showcase different elements of the song, Like I said, we have the school girls, I wanted that nostalgic feeling of college girls in uniform and the hair. The girls when they finish from school, people just think they would be hair dressers and tailors. Females are more than that; they want to be pilots, they want to be doctors. Also, the table with the older men, it is supposed to represent the ministers, senators, the politicians; some of them not all. Some of them are distracted by other things instead of them to focus on how to make Nigeria a better place so we kind of played on that a little bit, so those deep meanings; we had the monkey on my shoulder, that kept jumping off. You know monkey no get skills. Igi sumo gi. It’s a proverb. You know, you see a monkey jumping from tree to tree and you are like it has tricks, but you know they are just jumping from the closest tree to the next tree and they are not really doing anything spectacular. So, it is like telling you that when you are doing something or you ’re about to birth a huge destiny, you ’re going to have haters. But those haters are not doing anything, they are not coming out of their comfort zone, you can’t look at what they are doing. Monkey no get skill, Igi su mo gi, they are only doing what is necessary, you are doing something that is going to change the world. So, you have to step out of your comfort zone so that’s what that means.”
The 39-year-old singer made her film debut in 2011 with Joke Silva and Ireti Doyle in the stage adaptation of “For Coloured Girls.” And recently, she featured on “Keys to the Kingdom”, a track she co-wrote for Beyoncé’s soundtrack album “The Lion King: The Gift.”
Tagged Africa’s biggest female singer, Tiwa is signed to Universal Music Group for a seven-year publishing and distribution deal allowing her future music to be released through the label’s operations in more than 60 countries.
And expressing her vivacity, she took to Instagram to show off the new set of customised teeth with chrome “Savage” on the lower section.
The mother of one said despite the life of glamour and thrills she is living, she still struggles with low self-esteem and has always felt she was not beautiful most times. She disclosed that the life portrayed on social media was one reason for her insecurity.
Tiwa was formerly married to Tunji (Tee Billz) Balogun, in 2013, who was also her manager. Their wedding hit the rocks when Balogun accused his wife of infidelity. On her part, Tiwa addressed her husband’s social media posts on their marriage, debunking the infidelity claims. She accused him of financial recklessness, drug addiction and abandonment.
Still separated, Balogun took to his Instagram account the day she dropped 49-99 to wish her well, he posted: “There’s no fulfillment greater than to watch your dream and vision come to live!! Proud of you, Mama J… I’ve not heard it. I’m not expecting anything but I knew what you were made off when they didn’t believe in you. Respect and greatness.”