The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Open

  • ‘Open market best for baby items‘

    ‘Open market best for baby items‘

    Buying baby items for an expectant mother is an important aspect of pregnancy. Some of these items range from baby wear, bed-cot, dippers, flask, baby carrier, cardigan, cap, socks, baby walker, and feeding bottles.

    Although they are found everywhere, to get cheap bargains, the open market is the best place to visit.

    At the Ikotun market, Lagos, baby items are displayed to attract customers; merchants stand by the road side leading to the market to distribute their business cards to their target – pregnant women-  to enhance patronage.

    Mrs. Shade Ogundigba is a sales representative at Twins Faga, a baby store in the market. She said baby items are sold at cheap prices at the market. “We sell baby items here at wholesale prices for people who want to buy them to resell. We do not only stock cheap items, they are of good quality, so far, and we have been experiencing huge patronage because of our unique selling point which is affordability,” she added.

    However, prices of these items are determined by the brand. Baby wears range from N300 to N1, 000. Socks and caps go for between N200 and N500. A small size baby bed sells for N3, 000, while the big size is N9, 000. A small baby carrier is N3,000 and a big one is N9, 500. Baby wipes and dippers range from N200 to N 1, 000. Baby feeding bottles cost between N1, 000 and N3,000, walker sells for N4, 000 for the small size and N 10,000 for big size. Flasks go for between N1,500 and N 5,000, while a shawl and a blanket cost N 5,000 each

  • Quadri seeded for Qatar Open

    Quadri seeded for Qatar Open

    Having put the disappointment of the Kuwait Open behind him, Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri will return to the table this week at the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) World Tour tagged ‘Qatar Open’ as the ITTF Star Player has been seeded among the top 16 players of the tournament.

    With Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov seeded number one by the organisers, Quadri, the only African player in the competition, is seeded number 13 and he is expected to kick-start his campaign from the main draw of the men’s singles event.

    Strangely, Egyptian players are conspicuously missing despite an exceptional performance by Omar Assar at the just concluded Kuwait Open.

    Quadri told SportingLife that the stress he went through before the Kuwait Open may have contributed to his lackluster performance in Kuwait.

    “I had a terrible time travelling to Kuwait for the tournament because when I got to Germany, all the airlines were on strike and I could not get a direct link to Kuwait. So, I had to buy another ticket to be able to make it on time to Kuwait. Before I got the ticket, it was getting late. But on getting to Kuwait, my luggage was missing, so I had to wait at the airport to get it because all my equipment was in the bag. It was late before I could get the luggage and I had to start looking for a hotel to sleep that night. So, for me, all this contributed immensely to my inability to move well on table,” he explained.

    Nevertheless, he said he is fully in shape for the Qatar Open, which serves off tomorrow at the Qatar Women Sports Committee Hall in Aspire Zone, Doha.

    As the second super series in the ITTF World Tour, $220,000, the Qatar Open will further afford Quadri the opportunity to redeem himself after his unimpressive performance in 2015.

    Meanwhile, defending champions of Lagos ITTF World Tour, Egypt’s duo of Omar Assar and Nadeen El-Dawatly have expressed their willingness to retain the titles next month.

    With all the expected players already confirmed for the five-day championship, Assar, who recently won the ITTF Africa Senior Championship in Cairo said he would be willing to return to Lagos to hold on to the title.

    From 2013, when the tournament was staged, Assar has clinched the title by beating Nigeria’s Segun Toriola in 2013 and also beating compatriot, El-Sayed Lashin in 2014 and the world number 43 is hoping to tantalise the Lagos fans with his entertaining style of play.

    Also, El-Dawlatly, who finished in third place at the ITTF Africa Senior Championship, is hoping to return to Lagos where she defeated her compatriot, Dina Meshref to clinch her first World Tour title.

  • Spaces open for Val

    There are new stores and spaces opened this weekend specifically for Valentine. They offer just about everything a shopper needs to indulge in  this season. Despite their vast sizes, these places, which offer offline and online sales are open to the public with colourful items and mix-and-match household items.

    But surprisingly, everything found at theses places are for sale, “from the candle burning, to the  CDs playing and the sofa one would sit on,” says a space creative personnel Gloria Harrison. “They are  like open, shoppable private homes for everyone to hang out in.” She said.

    At the bazaar in Illupeju- Lagos,  women and men assemble with fashion items amongst other things. And while clothing brand makes the best of the season, local talents are also represented as they indulge in various entertaining activities. From findings, the choice of multifaceted spaces for shopping is making some neighbourhoods become more and more global during festive seasons.

  • Open letter to defence chiefs

    SIR: This letter is vital to you at this moment in the background of predictions that Nigeria will break up in 2015. There is a dangerous trend afflicting the military today: politicians are gradually involving the institution in the wars they create. Before now, many people were of the view that soldiers will always rise against bigotry. But that’s simply not true. If tension could tear the military’s fabric apart before before the  civil war, it can happen again.

    Sirs, why should a garrison of the military be allocated to guard the homes, entourage and kinfolks of people of influence when these personnel are needed in the field to protect national interests especially in the light of emerging internal security challenges?

    Shouldn’t the government fashion out a way to give licences to retired military personnel to establish private security companies like Blackwater (a private military Army in the US that even went to foreign mission in Iraq before the ignoble shootings that led to the withdrawal of its license) to be supervised by the Army Intelligence so that the military will be left to concentrate on their regimental duties while the private security companies go on to protect those that can afford their services?

    The military over time has displayed skill and courage within and outside Nigeria. The country needs to appreciate their worth not only as the fight against the insurgency rages but at all times and its members in-and-out of service must not be left to suffer in ignominy.

    Your time in office should be used to get the political class to address the needs of the military more. Past military leaders have baulked at acquiring modern armaments for fear of coups; civilian administrators likewise have either towed same line or refused to convoke bi-partisan meetings needed to help the military.

     

    • Simon Abah,

    Port Harcourt,

    Rivers State

  • ‘I don’t scold my staff in the open’

    ‘I don’t scold my staff in the open’

    Dr. Tayo Oyedeji, Managing Director, Media Perspectives, a subsidiary of the foremost advertising media company, the Troyka Group. Oyedeji who has over 16 years experience which cuts across corporate and academic work experience spanning media advertising, management consulting and financial services in Africa, Europe and North America in this interview with Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf speaks on the innovative media template to develop hands-on skills for media planners, data specialists, and media buyers as well as advertising praxis in Nigeria vis-à-vis global trends, management, among others. Excerpts: 

    Your company birthed an innovative template aimed at boosting the skills set of training modules. Is there a chance that you could also make this public? What informed the whole idea? Is there going to a commitment from your staff to sign a bond over this?

    We did this primarily because we thought we needed to upgrade the knowledge of advertising in Nigeria.  So what happens in advertising is that a lot of people are professionals from different fields. Some of the people that work for us are engineers, some of them are accountants; some of them studied International Relations also and some of them studied in very many different fields. So, there isn’t really a grinding in advertising and marketing for a lot of these people. And so, we felt one of the things we could do is to find way to help our people to learn the basics of advertising and marketing so that they can deliver better value to our customers. That is the goal. The goal is to deliver the best value possible to our clients in this market. Now, after we finish with our people if we see a lot of demands from outsiders, we go out and find away to address the content to them. But for a large extent it’s for our clients and if we are done with our sister agencies we intend to roll it up to our clients.

    The second question you asked is that is there a bond of some sorts that you must work with us for some time. My answer is no. I think it’s a live and let’s live world that we’re into. Knowledge is something that is meant to be given, virtually freely to people. It’s an information world and so if we’re trying to restrict and restrict people, then we’re harming people rather than helping them. And the goal of this is to help people. So, if they become better and they find out that they are becoming better for working with us, they would be more likely to stay with us. And even if they move on, we would have help to improve advertising in Nigeria and the practice of media planning to a large extent. So, we’re not binding people at all.

    Where did this innovation come from?

    As to whether there has been any innovation like this elsewhere, I would say this is not a Nigerian concept. It is actually General Electricity in the United States of America that started this. What happened was that GE found that a lot of its mangers were not well versed in management science. So, it started a university, where all GE managers are expected to go through before they can move to the next level. And what you found out is that after a while, virtually all the leaders of all the company in America had worked at GE at one point in time or the other because that training, everybody now recognised it as a core management development skill. If you now come back locally, Insight Communications did the same thing. So, what Insight did was it began to train people extensively and that today if you look across all of marketing communication players, you find that the Insight people are leading other agencies.

    Where did you copy the curriculum for this new media strategy template you have?

    You see advertising is not strictly a Nigerian or a local concept. Advertising has been practiced in most parts of the world for hundreds of years. So, our field of media planning for instance is probably one of the youngest fields in advertising. But in the U.S. it’s easily 30-35 years old. In Nigeria, we’re just a 14-15 years old industry. And so, there are lots of things we can learn from other markets that have advanced way beyond us. And so a lot of the content that we’re using came from the U.S. where it has been in practice and again, one of the things we did for the past four months is that we have been localising it to Nigeria. So we took the concepts from America and we’re localising fully until it’s a fully Nigerian products. So, what you see for instance is that very many of the examples are Nigerian and the currency is naira but the core concepts and ideas came from the global market, so that we’re operating from the very best of the world in that sense.

    Still talking of the template, for anybody who is not at home with advertising and what it has to offer the template might come across as obtuse, can this template serve as learning tool for beginners?

    The package is not for sale, it’s for training our people. And I understand why you’re asking, the package is really comprehensive, it seems really big and so the question is why would you want t o keep this? It looks like something that would be potentially profitable if we monetise it. But the goal is not money at all. The goal is to develop our people and so if we do every good thing of developing our people with this, we believe that they would be ambassadors of the best that this industry has to offer and I think we would give great value to our clients. So, as far as we’re concerned, we’re not in this to make money, we’re just strictly in this to give value to our clients by developing the best media planners and buyers in Nigeria.

    Now that you have empowered your staff with this working tool are you going to be setting performance target for them in terms of deliverables henceforth?

    No, it’s not KPI-bound. But what it is, is that if you were working for one client before and the client would rate you 60 per cent, our goal is that by the time you’re done with these modules, the client would see the value you’re bringing and rate you 90 per cent because our goal as an agency is to be the No. 1 of course, in billings but not just in billings but also in reputation for excellence. So, the most important thing for us is that the stakeholders, the people we work with, other agencies, the clients, the media, everybody will know that Media Perspectives is a centre of excellence for media training in Nigeria. And so, that is the goal. By the time we’re done with this, we hope that by giving the people the best as a centre of excellence for our industry.

    As a company in the forefront of advertising practice in Nigeria, should the industry expect more offering from you?

    Yes. I’m proud to say that Media Perspectives is the most innovative company in our industry, especially in media planning and advertising industry. And there are many reasons why I would say that. Take for instance; we’re the very first agency to build a cloud-based media operating system. What that means is that our clients can be in New York today, some our clients are based in Kenya, but they can log into our system, Media Perspectives and see exactly what we’re saying. It is as if they never left. We’re the first to build that kind of system in Nigeria. Secondly, we’re the only agency in Nigeria that built and currently use an optimiser. What an optimiser does is that it says how much do you have? If you have N100, what is the best way to spend this N100 to get this in advertising in Nigeria? So, I’m not just telling you to advertise in The Nation because of the people that work there, I’m telling you based on my data and my research, so you have to abide by our recommendations based on our findings and research. So, we will keep innovating and improving the practice. The Troyka Group is very interested in dong new things. I think we’re just like our fathers.

    Talking about motivation, do you apply the stick and carport approach?

    No, I don’t believe in stick and carrot approach. I think it’s counterproductive.  I praise people a lot when I catch them doing good things and when I catch them doing something that are not so good, I call them to my office and we have a discussion. That way I don’t break their spirit, you understand? That’s the way I see it rather than try and to be hard and ‘kill’ people. I motivate people t help them becoming better person.

    What has been your staff turnover like since you came on board?

    We lost some people to the agency of the former MD of this company who went on to set up an agency. We have no lost anybody since then. Truth is if we were to count it now, it would be zero.

    What has been your toughest decision since you came on board?

    I think for me, it’s been finding out what people are good at best. I believe that everybody has their strength and weaknesses and so my job as an MD is to look at all our people and find their areas of strength and make sure that we give them the opportunity to work well.  And so a lot o the times, I have missed it, made mistakes in placing some people where they are not very strong and I have quickly learnt to go back and make amends. So for me, in general, the toughest decision has been moving people to where they are best equipped to be effective and I think I’m getting better at it.

  • Open letter to the President

    SIR: I am supposed to be in the Boxing Gymnasium training very hard so I can win my next bout, earn a place in the Guinness World Record Book (GWRB) as the oldest boxer to successfully defend his title and win another title, earn a place for Nigeria in the GWRB as the host country and above all bring honour, glory and clean money to my fatherland. Instead, I am shadow-boxing with officials at NEXIM Bank who during the inauguration of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) promised to give 100 percent support but are now doing everything and anything possible to kill my vision for a better Nigeria.

    As directed by the federal government, I have had several meetings with officials of NEXIM Bank who are the coordinating bank with the Bank of Industry for the LOC.

    On May 3, I got this text message from NEXIM Bank “We apologise for our absence at the LOC meeting held on Friday, 2/05/14 at the usual venue. We shall be present at the next meeting. Please be reassured that NEXIM remains committed to the success of the GWR Championship Boxing Fight. Thanks.

    On May 4, Robert Orya, the Managing Director of NEXIM called me claiming that since the January 7, inauguration that he was yet to see a copy of the inaugural speech and the white paper from the NSC to the Presidency. May 5, I called to inform him I was on my way to meet with him at the bank. He was very happy and told me that he was expecting me but as soon as I got to the gate of the bank with the other members of the LOC and he was informed that I did not come alone, he was furious and ordered the security guard to lockout other members of the LOC but me.

    On September 1, the same thing happened but this time he ordered his security guard to push me out of the way while I and members of the LOC were at the gate waiting to see him.

    After accepting the invitation from the federal government to be inaugurated into the LOC, after having several meetings within and outside of NEXIM Bank to workout a master plan for the release of $30M and how NEXIM Bank would be part of the receivership of the $500M PPV Television profit for the sake of transparency and accountability, after sending several  text messages pledging total commitment to the success of the GWR fight and promising to be at the next LOC meeting, after almost 10 months of unsuccessfully trying to extort $110M USD from me, it then suddenly dawned on the management of NEXIM Bank that it does not sponsor sports.

    Is this a decent way to treat any Nigerian not to talk of Nigeria’s only World Boxing Champion, a national hero, a national honourS holder of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and above all a decent Nigerian who wants to bring honour, glory and clean money to Nigeria?

    My President, I know you are a decent man and a man of your words but why are you allowing these people to treat me like this?

    Since its inauguration till date, the LOC is indebted to the tune of over N50 million in logistics to various groups including the hotel that once served as the secretariat for the LOC. I was evicted from the hotel and my vehicle seized pending when the LOC is able to offset the hotel bill.

    I respectfully ask that you keep your promise to me. That you personally oversee or appoint a representative that will be in charge of the fight purse and the PPV TV profit. That because of the urgency of the moment, the overdue logistics money and the overdue fight approval fee is paid immediately so Nigeria does not lose the right to host to Germany.

    • Bash Ali, OON.                                                                                              

    Lagos

     

  • 37th NB International Open Chess Championship kicks off today

    37th NB International Open Chess Championship kicks off today

    Today at the Molade Okoya-Thomas Hall of Teslim Balogun Stadium, the 37th Nigerian Breweries Plc International Open Chess Championship kicks off.

    The N2.5m prize money is the longest sponsored chess tournament in Nigeria and players are expected to aim for titles in six events.

    According to the Corporate Affairs Adviser, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Kufre Ekanem the unalloyed support for the tournament was borne of the company’s key element in its youth empowerment and talent development initiatives.

    He added that the company would continue to partner Nigeria Chess Federation (NCF) in their quest to producing world class players. “The enthusiasm shown towards the game and the discovery of budding talents over the years has no doubt confirmed that NB Plc’s continuous partnership with NCF is not in vain,” he added.

    Six categories – Masters, Open, Ladies, Amateur, U-14 boys and girls will be competed for at the four-day tournament.

    President, NCF, Lekan Adeyemi lauded the management of NB for keeping faith with the tournament, adding that this competition has churned out world class players for Nigeria.

    He, however, explained that the federation would continue to grow the sport among students, as there are plans to popularise the game across the country.

    “We will remain grateful to NB Plc for their unflinching support in the last 37 years and for us at the federation this is a major tournament in our calendar and we hope that more players will come through this competition on a yearly basis.”

  • Open letter to Ndigbo

    At the risk of being tagged once again as anti Igbo by rabid, commissioned slave traders who see Ndigbo as easy wares to be marketed to their political masters, I write this open letter to my people. At the huge risk of being called names by my brothers and sisters, I make bold to write this piece to my people. I have been called names in the past for speaking out and I may be wrong but please forgive me. I write because I know that a story that must be told never forgives silence. I write despite all odds because I know that when a writer is silent he or she is lying. I write because I want things to be done differently because I know that the greatest part of hell will be reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of great moral crisis.

    I write knowing fully well that I am not the best God ever created and therefore mine cannot be the last word. Two incidents involving Stella Oduah who was removed as a minister for corruption and General Ihejirika who just retired from the Nigerian Army necessitated this open letter. Stella Oduah was removed as Minister of Aviation for issues bordering on corruption. She was accused of financial recklessness.

    When the lid was blown open, our people went to town to defend her.  All Igbo organizations went to town with the chorus Leave Stella Oduah alone. The shouts came from our people all over the world and it was loud and deafening. When Stella Oduah was eventually eased out by the presidency, one thought our people will learn the lesson but not Igbo. Our leaders went to town with a project to honour her and others with awards in Lagos. In preparation for the ceremony one of the leaders spoke to the press: “We are honouring our own Mrs Stella Oduah to show the world that even when Nigeria mocks our brightest and best for doing a good job at the Aviation Industry, we must tell the world that we love and celebrate our own”.

    She was given an instant title of ADA IGBO. As I write this, billboards are at strategic locations in Igboland celebrating her as ADAIGBO.

    Now enter General Ihejirika, former Chief of Army Staff. General Ihejirika just retired from the Army after serving for more than three decades. General Ihejirika is now eyeing the governorship seat in Abia State on the platform of PDP just few months after pulling out of the Nigerian Army. But just recently an Australian peace negotiator, Stephen Davis who was allegedly contracted by the federal government and who spent four months in Nigeria negotiating with Boko Haram to get the kidnapped Chibok girls out, told the world that the former Governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sheriff and Ihejirika have hands in sponsoring Boko Haram. The moment Steven Davis’ statement hit the public space, hell was let loose once again. Our people went to town with the usual mantra: Leave Ihejirika alone. Almost all the Igbo organizations have issued press statement suggesting that General Ihejirika is being persecuted for staking his life to fight Boko Haram for Nigeria. Again the noise was so loud and deafening. According to our people, Ihejirika is being persecuted because he is Igbo. Even Igbo World Assembly (IWA) in far away United States was not left out in the drama. In the social media it is Igbo versus other Nigerians.

    Now the questions are: do we need to defend Stella Oduah and General Ihejirika? Are they not competent to defend themselves? Were our people with them when they were serving? Can we swear we know them very well to continue this noise? Do we really know the character of these persons? Why this prebendal politics?

    If we continue to defend our tribes only, who will then defend Nigeria? Who is working for Nigeria if I may ask? Is it not bad for Igbo to continue to defend what they know nothing about? Are we not making ourselves objects of ridicule in the eyes of other Nigerians? When we pour invectives on other Nigerians or people who are different from us, are we not endangering the lives and businesses of Ndigbo scattered all over Nigeria?

    Have we forgotten that our people are the most mobile in Nigeria? Do we know how other Nigerians rate us in this predictable defence? Do we consider the feelings of other Nigerians? What signals are we sending out?

    Don’t we have men and women who will say enough is enough in this madness of defending the indefensible?

    We know Igbo history, philosophy and sociology. When did it tolerate blind and unquestionable defence of someone who might have compromised his or herself while in office? When has Igbo become so ethically compromised that they do must defend even thieves from Igboland? Are these Igbo not aware that such fight, like in the case of Stella Oduah not only ridicules the Igbo but belittles them before others? What happens to the sanctimonious resolve of our fore fathers never to get involved in war of blame?

    When Professor Grace Grange, Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun, and Speaker Patricia Etteh, were removed for corruption, did the Yoruba resort to this kind of blackmail? What is the North saying about Ali Modu Sherrif, the former Governor of Borno State implicated in Boko Haram insurgency with Ihejirika? These are just few cases I wanted to mention for emphasis.

    I do not think the way we are going now will help us politically. I do not think other Nigerians will trust us if we continue this way. I have slim hope that other Nigerians will take us serious in matters of Nigerian politics. I am not led to believe that we are getting it right, rather I think we are going the wrong way.

    For emphasis, Ihejirika may be guilty or not; but it is his to prove. I am not saying he is guilty for I do not know the details. He doesn’t need all the cahoots of persuaders now striving to show their support for him to do so. The best for Ihejirika is to step out and put a solid defence and shame his accusers. If he believes he will get the mob to extricate him, he is making a mistake and getting himself indicted by history and that is far more dangerous for him.

    I suggest that Igbo should stop creating enemies for itself in Nigeria. I suggest that Igbo should rise above ethnic preoccupation to help move Nigeria forward. If we are still one Nigeria, Igbo should consider the feelings of other Nigerians. This attitude of defeatism must give way to politics of ideas. This persecution complex must stop. This leadership complex must cease.

  • Entries for art contest open

    Nigerian Breweries (NB) Plc and African Artists’ Foundation (AAF) have called for entries for the sixth edition of the National Art Competition (NAC).

    According to the organisers the announcement is part of efforts to encourage the development of creativity, arts and artists.

    Entries will close on June 15. Artists are advised visit the foundation’s website (www.africanartists.org) on how to apply and submit application forms.

    The National Art Competition is a yearly arts competition organised by Nigerian Breweries and the African Artists’ Foundation, with each edition driven by pertinent themes in line with current social issues.

    Nigerian Breweries has been partnering with the African Artists’ Foundation to organise the National Art Competition for ûve consecutive years.

    In a statement, the organisers said Nigerian Breweries recognises that arts play an important role in strengthening cultural values in any society, adding that in its five year span, the competition has showcased emerging talent in such diverse mediums as painting, sculpture, photography, mixed media, installation, and video art. With a focus on the processes of artistic creation rather than solely the end product, artists are asked to submit a proposal for an unrealised work.

    After screening many entries, 12 finalists would be invited to take part in artists’ retreat, where workshops by leading artists, professors, curators, and arts professionals allow finalists to flesh out the conceptual threads of their proposal and work in a studio environment.

    NAC 2013’s theme is Identity: Who Do You Think You Are?, where artists are asked to interpret the topic through a conceptual embrace of artistic practices.

    This year’s theme, according to the Director of AAF, Mr Azu Nwagbogu, seeks to capture the essence of being a Nigerian. The theme examines the status of individuals in both Nigerian and abroad.

    “There is an ongoing debate about the value and functionality of our national identity. Do we persist with identifying with our state or tribe of origin or have we truly embraced the community where we have made our residence? With vast changes sweeping the nation, including urban development, rising technologies, and the evolving social climate, personal and collective cultural identity are constantly in flux.

    “How is identity constructed and articulated? What external forces come to define our understanding of ourselves and the world around us? What is the relationship between individual identity, national identity, and their position in the face of rising globalisation? These are questions to be answered as regards the theme,” according to Nwagbogu.

    Artists of all ages and working in all mediums are encouraged to apply. The selection committee will be headed by Prof. El Anatsui.