Notable Politicians, Corporate Organizations, Entrepreneurs, Royal fathers, Others Endorse Nigeria Media Nite Out Award

Nigeria Media Nite Out Award is an award of Excellence which recognizes the outstanding achievements and efforts of individuals and organisations who, through a combination of personal qualities and exceptional skills, have made a significant contribution throughout their careers to the noble media profession and also achieved results that reflect the priorities of journalism.
Also, we extend our recognition to individuals, organisations and governments who have positively impacted the media profession while demonstrating their key leadership competencies.
The award is open to individuals and organisations at all levels of the fourth estate of the realm. It is pertinent to state that, NMNA award is non-monetary, and recipients will be announced during a ceremony to be held in their honour at Times Square Arena, Ikeja. A selection committee is responsible for managing the nominations process for these prestigious awards. Procedures for nomination and voting can be access at www.Nigeriamediateniteout.com
In line with the objectives of NMNA and in consonance with its previous achievements and successes, some state governors, prominent politicians, who-is-who in the media profession, royal fathers, entrepreneurs, captains of industries and A-List socialites have pledged their unalloyed support for the 2016 edition of the grand award ceremony which also, is the 10th edition of the arguably the most consistent media award ceremony in Nigeria. The Theme of the 2016 award is; “Media, Technology and Change In Nigeria”
Prominent among the awardees outside the media profession listed to be honoured on the nite includes; governors of Gombe, Rivers, Kano, Ebonyi, Plateau, Lagos, and Osun State. Others are; wife of Kogi State Governor and Akwa Ibom State’s Commissioner for Works.
Organisations like; Zenith Bank, Access Bank, UBA, First Bank GTBank, FCMB and Sifax group would also be mount the podium majestically to be honoured on the night for their support and contributions to the success of the event in years past.
According to the chief host of the event, Mr. Sola Olugbemiro, “given that the 2016 edition coincides with the 10th anniversary, it promises to be mile away from the norm. The numbers of recipients have been increased with a view to have a larger participation and celebration; we have also up our ante in the areas of menu threat and entertainment.

ANCOP LEADERSHIP CRISIS: DAISY CHIKWENDU SPEAKS AS NEW PRESIDENT

Mrs. Daisy Maduchikwendu is an amazon, a creative woman who is making her name in Nollywood. She is the founder of Women In Media and now the first woman to become the President of ANCOP. In this interview she opened up on how she became the president of ANCOP. Enjoy:

Let’s meet you ma
I am Daisy Maduchikwendu; a movie producer, screenwriter, organizer of women in media projects and REELTEEN film festival.

How long have you been a practitioner in Nollywood?
I came into Nollywood in 2001, that is fifteen years ago
What happened to women in media?

Ah WOMEN IN MEDIA. It is still ongoing but we have not had events for some time now. It is my dream and it is personally financed by me, apart from finance being a constraint, in recent times I have
concentrated more on productions.

As a producer and screenwriter what is your assessment of Nollywood,
do you think Nollywood is dying?

Nollywood is not dying and cannot die, it is even getting better, better scripts are being written, as a screen writer and producer, I can tell you that everything starts with the story and the script, and
we have those. The success of Nollywood is more on the power in our stories and we are producing them. We have our niche and we are taking full advantage of it. Also movies are being made with high-tech equipments, our films compete with foreign films at the cinemas, and we are recognized internationally. This year, TIFF is focusing on Lagos state in its “city to city” Lagos is the first African city to be honored; this puts Nigeria in the entertainment world stage.

You are now the president could you enlighten us on the organization?

ANCOP is Association of Nollywood Core Producers, it is a foremost Association in the Nigerian movie industry, and it is one of the umbrella bodies for professional film producers and executive producers in Nigeria, with presence in all the Geopolitical zones in Nigeria.  We aim at the production of intellectual property and also deepening the Nollywood brand. Through ANCOP, Nigeria is a member of
FIAPE; International Federation of Film Producers Association; the umbrella body of film producers globally.

What is the difference between ANCOP and its competitors?

The main difference is that ANCOP has international affiliation; through ANCOP, Nigeria is a member of FIAPE.  FIAPE is an international Association based in Paris, created in 1933, composed with 36member associations, from 30 of the leading audiovisual production countries. It is in charge of regulating international film festivals like Cannes, Berlin, Toronto etc. FIAPE is to film more or less what FIFA is to football.  Nigeria is the only African member county after Egypt. ANCOPs past President; Comrade Alex Eyengho is presently the vice president of FIAPE, the first black African to be honored with that position. No other association in Nollywood has this, it a big plus for ANCOP. We are also involved in the fight against piracy with other Nollywood associations and the government.

How did you become ANCOP President?

I never planned to be president; I actually went for the post of treasurer during the election. Eze Harris Chuma went for president and got it, three weeks later there were issues with the BOT and the Executives. The vice president Ada Anacunam, declines taking over the seat, one thing led to another and it unanimously came to me. This is destiny. The significant thing here is that I am the first female to
head a producers association in Nollywood. I didn’t plan to be president but here I am, by destiny president of association of Nollywood core producers.

As the new ANCOP president what are  you bringing to the table to take
filmmaking to the next level?

Nollywood is rapidly evolving; it is more important than ever now to create conducive platform for pragmatic filmmaking. There is no film producer without film production, we are therefore trying to create abundance of prospects for investors in the industry to fuel growth and make meaningful revenues  We plan to host business and investment forums, trainings, workshops etc. Presently, we are planning a joint investment forum with FIAPE in collaboration with financial institutions and government agencies. You will get the full details soon. But I promise you, we have a lot of other things cooking

As a mother how do you manage raising children and your job?

These days it is a common thing to manage family and career, I can’t say it has not been challenging, because it has, but we are moving on. The important thing is to prioritize, plan well and you are on easy
street. Finally where will you take ANCOP to before your tenure expires By the time my tenure expires, our members would have made more movies and I mean quality movies because we are working on more financing and coproductions for the producers. We are encouraging the production of quality movies that will boost the movie industry. We will move Nollywood to a higher end standard of production. You know what is happening in the industry now health wise, our health insurance would
have been in place, also production insurance too. All in all the idea is to promote and protect the film business and its practitioners. And that we will do

Buhari Agrees To Swap Girls For Boko Haram Detainees

The Federal Government will dialogue with bonafide leaders of Boko Haram to bring back the abducted Chibok girls, President Muhammadu Buhari has said.
The “degraded” sect recently made an overture to the government for a swap of some of the girls with its detained fighters, in a video posted on Youtube.
In the video, the sect claimed that some of the girls had been married off and others killed in air raids. Following the release of the video, the Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) campaigners  renewed their pressure on the government to push for the girls’ release.
It accused the Federal Government of lack of commitment and sincerity towards finding the girls. The group vowed to march on the Presidential Villa every 72 hours.
In an interview with reporters on the sideline of the sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI) in Nairobi, Kenya at the weekend, President Buhari said the government was ready to dialogue with bonafide leaders of the group who know the whereabouts of the girls.
A statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, quoted Buhari as saying: ‘‘I have made a couple of comments on the Chibok girls and it seems to me that much of it has been politicised.
‘‘What we said is that the government which I preside over is prepared to talk to bonafide leaders of Boko Haram.
‘‘If they do not want to talk to us directly, let them pick an internationally recognised Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), convince them that they are holding the girls and that they want Nigeria to release a number of Boko Haram leaders in detention, which they are supposed to know.
‘‘If they do it through the ‘modified leadership’ of Boko Haram and they talk with an internationally recognised NGO, then Nigeria will be prepared to discuss for their release,’’ he said.
Buhari however warned that the Federal Government will not waste time and resources with “doubtful sources’’ claiming to know the whereabouts of the girls.
‘‘We want those girls out and safe. The faster we can recover them and hand them over to their parents, the better for us.’’ he added
The President maintained that the terror group, which pledged allegiance to ISIS, had been largely decimated by the gallant Nigerian military with the support of neighbours from Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin.
He said: ‘‘Some of the information about the division in Boko Haram is already in the press and I have read in the papers about the conflict in their leadership.
‘‘The person known in Nigeria as their leader, we understand was edged out and the Nigerian members of Boko Haram started turning themselves to the Nigerian military.
‘‘We learnt that in an air strike by the Nigeria Air Force he was wounded. Indeed their top hierarchy and lower cadre have a problem and we know this because when we came into power, they were holding 14 out of the 774 local governments in Nigeria. But now they are not holding any territory and they have split to small groups attacking soft targets.”
On the militancy in the Niger Delta, the President said the Federal Government was open to dialogue to resolve all contending issues in the area.
‘‘We do not believe that they (the militants) have announced ceasefire. We are trying to understand them more. Who are their leaders and which areas do they operate and other relevant  issues,’’ he said.
Source: The Nation

RRS NABS CHAIRMAN OF PICKPOCKETS IN OSHODI, 21 OTHERS

The operatives of Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of Lagos State Police Command have arrested a self-acclaimed Chairman of pickpockets in Oshodi, Ibrahim Kasali, and 20 other suspects alleged to be involved in stealing and robbing innocent members of public in the area.
The raiding, which took place at about 4:30 a.m. and ended at 6:35 am, early hours of Friday August 26th, 2016, witnessed the operatives combing Mosafejo, Bolade, Oshodi Oke, and Oshodi Under Bridge, arresting the hoodlums and social miscreants waiting for early rush to pickpocket passers-by and passengers
The suspect who is popularly known as Ibrahim Babangida of Oshodi, nabbed during the operation while being chased by passengers of a bus which he boarded to pickpocket.
It was gathered that Kasali is feared by his colleagues for his ruthlessness and popularity. “some of his colleagues earlier arrested gave him out as their leader, and that he is the one that goes around to collect items stolen or snatched from passers-by to sell and share the proceeds to all of them”, our source added.
Kasali, the source noted has been to prison four times while one of his accomplices also arrested, Ibrahim Yusuph, 18, from Ogun State, was just out of prison for the eighth time.
Upon completion of preliminary screening, four out of 21 arrested suspects, who could provide satisfactory information about their identity, were released.
Amongst the suspects arrested were, Bello Fatai, Oladimeji Ajisafe, Hassan Adeyemi, Jubril Olamilekan and Babalola Ahmed. Others were, Junior Vincent, Rilwan Oyinsola, Sadiq Taofeek, Kazeem Taiwo, Mutiu Rasheed, Ayodele Adeeko and Sola Omonije to mention but a few.
While confirming the arrest, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Superintendent of Police, SP Dolapo Badmus, re-assured people of Lagos, of maximum security in place in the state, adding that the suspects would face the full wrath of law.
The suspects have been transferred to the Lagos State Taskforce on Environment for prosecution.

LIBERATION CITY PRESENTS 1 NIGHT WITH THE KING

Speed limiter devices: Offenders risk N50, 000 fine, jail term

Any driver caught to have tampered illegally with the speed limiter devices installed on their vehicles would be fined N50, 000 or face a jail term.
Mr Jokthan Suleiman, a director at the Richfield Technologies Limited, said this in Ilorin, Kwara State, on Friday.
It was at a sensitisation organised by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) on implementation of the device.
“The speed limiter device is meant to stop vehicles from speeding; it works with the speed sensor of the vehicle, not the engine.
“It does not only alert when the driver speeds but prevents the car from speeding beyond the set speed limit.
“No one is allowed to tamper with the device, any mechanical fault in the device should be referred to the vendor and any illegal tampering will attract a fine of N50, 000 or a jail term.
“”There are fake devices around being sold by fake vendors; the only authorised vendor in Kwara is NONA Concepts Nigeria Limited in Ilorin,’’ he said.
Also, the Sector Commander of the FRSC, Mr Sunday Maku, said that controlling human habits on speeding was crucial to Road Traffic Crashes (RTC).
He said that speed was a human factor which contributed to RTC fatalities and had become a global concern.
“ All over the world, speed, a human factor, has contributed to RTC fatalities. This has called for global concern.
“It has been observed that behavioral and attitudinal changes alone cannot bring about the desired change on reckless speed by drivers.
“The installation of speed limiter devices in vehicles stands as the best option toward controlling speed and reduction of crashes on Nigeria roads.
“We, therefore, want stakeholders, unions, commercial drivers and the public to support and co-operate with us as well as embrace the scheme with an understanding of its importance”, he said.

It’s a new dawn in computer village, says Ojikutu Ahmed , CAPDAN President

Mr. Ojikutu Ahmed Adeniyi is newly elected President of Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria (CAPDAN). In this interview with MARK ULOKO he bares his mind on various issues including how his leadership intends to take the association to next level. Excerpts.

Can we meet you sir?

My name is Ojikutu Ahmed Adeniyi. I was born to the famous family of Ojikutu of Lagos. By the special of God I am the managing Director of Pacific Network Solution Ltd as well the chairman of African Agro Development Project and also an approved license PKO Refinery. The success record in my business was made possible due to experience gathered from the number one ICT hub in Africa (Computer Village, Ikeja). As matter of fact I am a man of many parts, I involve in an active politics, Academia (Business Entrepreneur Lecturer). Despite many responsibilities on me, God see leadership capacity in me; he added another feather as the first elected president of Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association of Nigeria (CAPDAN). I’m happily married and blessed with children.

What informed your decision and confidence to contest the election which led to your emergence as the president of CAPDAN?  

I always see myself as a product of Computer Village. There are lot of opportunity and potentials available within this environment that can turnaround the fortune of the people and contributed greatly to economic development of Lagos State but I observe that reserves is the case because much have not been done to utilize this great asset. As a matter of fact, I have done research to see problems and challenges confronting the stakeholders in Computer Village to know where we actually got it wrong. I discovered that; there are great potentials abound that are yet to be utilized within the Computer Village and I come to the terms that, it is time to build a great new business environment for business to succeed. So my strength and confidence to join the race is because I discovered my ability to work with people of different background and race that can build a unifying structure in order to achieve a desire goals and objectives. And I thank God; that the election was able to produce the kind of executive on the board now. The people that are reliable, trustworthy, articulate and in all knowledgeable character that can work for the interest of the body. I believe that, electing me as the president of CAPDAN will be a total revolution in the market and there is possibility for us to achieve great within my period of leading this body. I have the maturity, objectivity and sagacity to pilot the affair of this great association to the next level. 

What are the plans you and the members of Executive have for this body?

Before the election we have our manifestoes that we used to sell our candidacy to the electorate. For me, we all have the same agenda for the sake of this body and that has eased our campaign. We are all passionate on how we can make Computer Village the number one ICT destination particularly in Nigeria and Africa in general. Since CAPDAN is a large body we are going to build a foster unity among the entire stakeholder to enhance co-operation and business integration that will lead to capacity building and the growth of our members. Working to ensure there is unity and cooperation of our members is sacrosanct and paramount. First CAPDAN is going into partnership with some coperate body and government agency both at the state and federal level through ministry of Science, Communication and Technology, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA). We are establishing Multipurpose Co-operate Society by partnering with the new Lagos State Ministry of Empowerment and Employment for direct SME fund. World class ICT, e-commerce (i.e. market website) will be created. For purpose of uniformity; Price review committee for Phone, Laptops and other product in the market will be constituted. To add more value and expertise to our services, we make it compulsory to have training on products. Engineers are also expected to have training on various products that enter the market with certificate of Lagos State College of Technology. We are going to organize Leadership Summits and business owners training, quarterly Business development training and ethic in partnership with Lagos Business School and Babcock Business School. This will be achieved through our business development plan. Secondly, just like I mentioned earlier unity among the market men and women is not something we can compromise. You know Computer Village is made up of different religions, tribes, race, ethnicity with difference mind set and character. To achieve this, we are going to organize an annual inter-denomination service for all Christians during Christmas and annual Ramadan Lecture for Muslims. We are going to organize Computer Village Week for inter-cultural interaction program and annual sport festival (inter-street competition) just to ensure that there is unity among the people in the market. Security is another key area we are going to work on.

There is this perception some criminals are operating in Computer Village. This has created fear in the mind of many customers, how do you intend to address this issue?

We all know that some set of people masquerade themselves within the market doing their criminal act; this has been given bad impression about Computer Village. I promise you that our come on board will put an end to all criminal activity within the market. We are going to take an aggressive measure to sanitize the system to restore the confidence of our esteem valuable customers so that they can enjoy our good services as expected. We have already mapped out a blue print on how to deal with the situation decisively. We are planning to work strictly with security agency combine with other security facilities put in place will make it so difficult for them to operate within the environment. That task is very important as far as this Association is concerned just to restore our glory back.

 How do you intend to achieve all of these?

 Well it may seen as a difficult task but we are all passionate about new computer village and we are going to do anything possible  to make sure Computer Village become one of the biggest ICT centre in whole of Africa. For us to accomplish our mission we are going to work harmoniously in order to avoid divided house. We are partnering with necessary agents and bodies to achieve our business plans. Security agent combine with our own Task Force will be there to overhaul the security challenges in the market.

Many people have said good thing about you; is it the kind of person you are or you decide to act that way to win the heart of the electorate?

Whatever people tells you about me, that is the kind of person I am. It is my nature and I don’t see any reason for me to pretend to get support from the people. God had given me a gift on how to manage people in any situation any time irrespective of who they are, being tribe, culture, race or character. People have already seen that in me as a reliable, trust, articulate someone with a high level of strategic reason and diplomacy that is why you see how I was accepted and voted for at the poll. In a nutshell; I always see myself as symbol of unity and progress, someone that always say no to discrimination anywhere I found myself.

Consider the margin between you and your opponent; what really came to your mind when you were declared winner?

Just like I said earlier, Ojikutu remain someone that always pull crowd any time any day because of who he is. One thing about life is this, when you are in the midst of people, there is need for you to know how important people around you are to you and give them the due respect. It is God and people that can lift you up even higher if humble you yourself before them. What transpire on the Election Day never came to me as surprise because I know that people have much confidence in me. But to answer your question directly; what really came to my mind is this, “I must not disappoint the people’s confidence”. And Ojikutu have no reason to fail them because I quiet knew their feeling and challenges confronting them before I contested for the election and I have all it takes to fulfill my promises to them. I know that the task is much because many thing need to be put in place rightly for interest of all but we have a team that is capable of doing thing that will bring back innovative, ideal, creativity and excellent to computer village.  

What should people be expecting from you?

Well during campaign I gave a lot of promises and people are expecting me to fulfill those promises. I want to let you know that I am still stick to the promises I made and to fulfill it will be my priority. My people have shown me the love they have for me by voting me as president of CAPDAN. They should be expecting something difference from what we used to have in old Computer Village from me and member of my executive. New innovative, branding, developments, creativity in fact it is a new dawn in computer village which will start bringing fruit immediately for the benefit of all. All I need from them is to continue supporting us as they have done and all that is being expected from us will be achieved by the grace of God.