TheNewsGuru

Tag: BOOK

  • MediaFuse-Dentsu Nigeria boosts reading culture, sponsors Uyo Book Club Reading Session

    MediaFuse-Dentsu Nigeria boosts reading culture, sponsors Uyo Book Club Reading Session

    A leading integrated marketing communications network, MediaFuse-Dentsu Nigeria, has announced its sponsorship of the Uyo Book Club, a vibrant community of book lovers based in Akwa State, Nigeria.

    The event, aligned with MediaFuse-Dentsu Nigeria’s commitment to fostering creativity and knowledge, will be held on Saturday,25th May from 4pm at Shakespeare’sn Hall, Watbridge Hotel and Suites, Opposite Ibom Hall, IBB Way, Uyo.
    The Group Chief Executive Officer of MediaFuse-Dentsu Nigeria, Emeka Chris Okeke, described the sponsorship as another way of supporting initiatives that foster reading culture and promote literacy.
    This is coming a few months after the company donated computers to Army Children Senior High School in Ikeja, Nigeria to empower students with the necessary tools for the digital age and improve their chances of success.

    He said, “MediaFuse-Dentsu Nigeria is excited to partner with the Uyo Book Club and help them continue to provide a platform for people to connect and explore the literary.
    “At MediaFuse-Dentsu Nigeria, we believe in the power of stories to inspire and educate. We are committed to supporting initiatives that foster creativity, education, and community engagement.”
    Responding to the sponsorship, the Founder and Father of the Book Club Initiative in Akwa Ibom State, Dr Udeme Nana, commended MediaFuse-Dentsu for sponsoring the book reading session.
    He said, “Uyo Book Club, a community service initiative based in Akwa Ibom State, South-South Nigeria, seeks to bridge the yawning gap observed in the reading habit of Nigerians. We are delighted to have MediaFuse-Dentsu Nigeria on board in the mission to re-awaken the culture of reading and also promote it among Nigerians.”
    MediaFuse-Dentsu Nigeria is a leading integrated marketing communications agency, offering a comprehensive range of services including media planning and buying, creative and content development, digital performance, location services, and public relations. The agency is a member of the Dentsu International network, one of the world’s largest marketing communications groups with a presence in over 65 countries around the world.

    The Uyo Book Club is a platform for passionate readers to connect, discuss literature, and share their love of books. The club hosts regular meetings, author events, and other literary activities.

  • What’s in a book? You’ll never know, until… – By Azu Ishiekwene

    What’s in a book? You’ll never know, until… – By Azu Ishiekwene

    Earlier this week, I teased on my social handle about my encounter with a deity. Of course, not in the sense that one might meet a deity in the groove of a village forest.

    Yet, those who have met this man – who know him – might agree that Sam Amuka, fondly called Uncle Sam, is a deity of sorts. The trail that forged the seasons of his career goes back many decades to his years at Daily Times which at its prime, was Africa’s leading journalism shrine.

    On Sunday I went to see Uncle Sam, to talk about my new book, Writing for Media and Monetising It. I had dispatched a copy to him in advance, but the ritual would be incomplete without a libation.

    So, I took along an extra copy and went to his Anthony Lagos residence, where he has lived like a regular Joe for many decades. As I waited for him upstairs on the balcony of his house, I glanced back and forth between the Sunday newspapers strewn on a cane table, and a silver tray with a big flask, teacups, a box of Lipton and assorted teas, a bottle of honey, skimmed milk and over a dozen of packets of Kemps cracker biscuits. 

    It wasn’t long before Uncle Sam emerged from the corridor, his imminent presence announced by the barking of a puddle that first accosted me when I climbed the stairs. The puddle was not here when I visited a few years ago.

    “Superstar!” Uncle Sam teased, as he came out.

    I replied, smiling, that 88 was good on him. He corrected me: “I’m 89!” He then tore a packet of Kemps crackers and sat on the bed-shaped cane chair to my right, waiving the young man who had followed behind to make him some tea. 

    The young man took out two Lipton tea bags, and after pouring hot water from the flask went on to add not one or two, but I think three teaspoons of honey. Then, he grabbed the tin of skimmed milk. I looked at Uncle Sam, thinking the young man was mistaken and expecting he would ask him to stop. He didn’t. Instead, he looked approvingly, even expectantly, munching his Kemps.

    At 59, in my obsession to live a long, healthy life, only God knows how many things I have given up. I can’t remember the last time I used any sweetener, gluten-free or not, for my tea or pap, much less milk. I was puzzled to see an 89-year-old man having his tea not just with plenty of honey but also topping the brew with spoonsful of milk. 

    Uncle Sam smiled as he took the steaming teacup from the young man, stirred it gently, and took a sip. As if to create the perfect ambience for his refreshment, he turned on music stored in a flash drive that was plugged into a player. 

    “You don’t know I’m called Daddy DJ?” he joked in response to my puzzled look.

    Sam Amuka, I know. Uncle Sam, I know. Who doesn’t? He is the Jimmy Breslin of Nigeria’s journalism. Writing about Breslin, who died seven years ago at 88, Tom Wolfe described him as, “The greatest columnist of my era.” And that, from Wolfe, a master of the craft in his own right, says a lot. 

    In a tribute to Breslin, The Guardian wrote that he was the champion of the trials and troubles of the ordinary people in New York. “He filled his columns with gangsters and thieves, whom he knew first-hand from drinking in the same bars. He told stories that smacked of blarney behind their anger.”

    And Breslin himself once said, “Rage is the only quality which has kept me, or anybody I have ever studied, writing for newspapers.” That was Sad Sam, the tempered version of which we now know as “Uncle Sam.”

    But “Daddy DJ?” I was meeting him in that incarnation for the first time this Sunday morning. Yet, it made no difference. I could see a common thread of empathy and humanity binding the three persons in one man. I was happy and comfortable to share the story of my new book, in-between sips of my own tea – sugarless, milk-less – and yes, also in-between mouthfuls of Kemps cracker biscuits which I had not tasted for a very long time.

    I did not start out to write a self-help book. As my career as a journalist crossed the 35-year mark and I inch closer to the sixth floor of life, it became increasingly difficult to ignore suggestions to share my experience in a more permanent form. I’ve been writing for the media since I was 22 and even managed to write a book on Nigeria’s anti-corruption war in 2008. But the urge to share more has increased. 

    In yielding, I wondered what I could do differently. In recent times, I have been invited by universities and professional groups to speak on the challenges facing journalists and young writers, especially in light of the extraordinary explosion in the use of artificial intelligence in the workplace, at school and at home. 

    Decades after TIME magazine famously predicted that journalism could be on its death throes and it turned out that the death was exaggerated, the technology appears to have sparked the second panic wave. 

    So what? I thought perhaps it might be useful to combine my speaking experiences with decades of writing a weekly column now enriched in both audio and visual formats to serve the needs of a younger generation of content providers, especially students and those in the earlier stages of their writing career, trying to find their way. And not just trying to find their way – but also, trying to earn some extra money or attract value, while doing so.

    The book title clearly suggests a media bias – media here meaning traditional and social media. That is deliberate as audiences in these areas are my primary focus. Whether you are still in school, just starting out on a writing career path or are, in fact, in the middle levels of your career, you would find this book useful. 

    It draws not only on my personal experience – struggles and triumphs – I also interviewed professionals across age brackets who generously shared their experiences with me.

    For me, writing this was like walking back through the years of my career, beginning from when there was even no career but just the dream to become a writer someday, to my schools when I was formally introduced to the craft, through many changes along the way, a good number of which I didn’t even see coming. 

    You don’t have to wear my shoes or tread my path. But this book is a good guide for common obstacles many literary content providers face in the new world as they try to find their own way.  

    I set out to do an online course largely on journalistic writing for value, not to write a book, but ended up with a resource that will benefit a much larger variety of audiences than I had envisaged. 

    Uncle Sam listened patiently. When I finished, he asked one question, with a worried look: “How will you get this book out, and get people to read it?”

    No easy answer. Research increasingly suggests declining interest in reading, especially among younger populations. I replied that I did what I could to make the book simple, anecdotal and relatable. 

    “I’m hoping,” I told Uncle Sam, “that young people would see something of themselves in my stories and the stories of others across a generational spectrum and from it, chart their own course.” 

    He didn’t seem fully persuaded, but he was in earnest for me – for us – to find a way. 

    How can one claim to be a journalist, for example, without reading Peter Enahoro’s You’ve Gotta Cry to Laugh, Babatunde Jose’s Walking a Tightrope or Alade Odunewu’s Allah De? Or even the more recent Battlelines: Adventures in Journalism and Politics by Olusegun Osoba, to mention a few?

    What is in a book is the thing that might just change your life; but you’ll have to read it to find it. On that, deities whether in journalism, carpentry, medicine or the good old craft of fortune-telling, might agree.

     

    Ishiekwene is Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP

  • Iyanya reacts to ex-girlfriend, Yvonne Nelson’s cheating allegations

    Iyanya reacts to ex-girlfriend, Yvonne Nelson’s cheating allegations

    Nigerian singer, Iyanya Onoyom Mbuk, simply known on stage as  Iyanya, has explained why he didn’t address Ghanaian actress Yvonne Nelson’s cheating allegations in her recently published book.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the actress claimed in the book that Iyanya cheated on her with Tonto Dikeh while they were dating.

    The ‘Kukere’ crooner said he would be criticized by many should he tell his own side of the story.

    He, however, said regardless of the backlash his reply would earn, he is still going to tell his side of the story soon.

    Taking to his Twitter handle on Wednesday, the singer wrote, “Y’all waiting for my side of the story? If I talk now, I’ll be accused of kissing and telling, sluts shaming, etc.

    But something gat to give, so wait for it.”

    Iyanya’s tweet is coming hours after Ghanaian rapper, Sarkodie released a new song titled, ‘Try Me’ to address Yvonne Nelson’s claims that he drove her to the clinic to abort the baby after impregnating her in 2010.

    In the song, the rapper debunked the allegations, insisting that he kicked against Yvonne Nelson’s decision to abort the pregnancy but she said she can’t keep it because she was in school.

    Sarkodie admitted that he wasn’t ready to be a father then, but added that he asked the actress to keep the pregnancy.

  • Ayorinde celebrates new Nigerian cinema with landmark book

    Ayorinde celebrates new Nigerian cinema with landmark book

    Celebrated journalist and film critic, Mr Steve Ayorinde has authored a new book to celebrate the landmark achievements and outstanding practitioners in the Nigerian film industry has been published.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Mr Ayorinde was a former Commissioner for Tourism Arts & Culture in Lagos State.

    Titled” ’30: Three Decades Of The New Nigerian Cinema – A Bystander’s Verdict’, the book is being sold globally by Amazon in print (hardcopy and paperback) and on kindle.

    In a statement released in Lagos on Friday by Patrons Media, the co-publishers, the book is also available on Smashwords and Lulu for global audiences and on Okadabooks in Nigeria.

    A formal unveiling is planned for after the general elections in Nigeria, at the end of March, according to the statement.

    In six chapters, 30: Three Decades Of The New Nigerian Cinema curates 30 each of those that the author considers outstanding among directors, actors, actresses and feature films released in Nigeria since 1992.

    Quoting from the book’s Preface, the statement highlights the author’s intention in writing about an industry that he has encountered closely as a cub reporter, editor and columnist, editor-in-chief, member of jury and as commissioner.

    “This book simply seeks to celebrate and document some of the outstanding films, directors, actors and landmark events, which have in the past 30 years or thereabout, defined the industry we now celebrate today; without forgetting other legendary names that played their parts but who are no more on planet earth,” the statement reads.

    The statement further adds: “thirty each of such outstanding professionals and movies have been selected for special highlights in this book as exemplary representatives from a large pool of talented practitioners and outstanding films that best celebrate this phenomenal industry in the past three decades.

    “This industry was built out of their sweat and labour of love. The choices contained in this publication are simply my preferences as someone who has encountered the industry and most of its key players closely for more than 30 years,” the statement quoted Ayorinde in the book’s Preface.

    From classic oldies like Asewo To Re Mecca and Living In Bondage, both in 1992, to Ti Oluwa Nile, Glamour Girls, Mortal Inheritance and Igodo; up to Ije, Otober 1, Sadauki, Half of a Yellow Sun and the more recent King Of Boys, The Milkmaid and Amina, the book curates a rich spread of some of the films that redefined the new Nigerian cinema.

    In his Foreword to the book, respected scholar and one of the first international academics to spread the gospel of Nollywood globally, Prof. Jonathan Haynes said Ayorinde’s journalistic work in the early and mid-1990s “were the first I found that gave some kind of handle on what this thing (Nollywood phenomenon) was and who the people were who were creating it.”

    According to Prof. Haynes, in one way or another, the film industry has always been in his (Ayorinde) bailiwick. “You don’t see a masquerade standing in one place, as the old saying has it. Ayorinde has moved round but he’s never lost sight of the movies; and the fruits of decades of steady observation and judgement are here in this new book, which I’m pleased to be able to help welcome into the world.”

    In her “Encore” (Last Word) submission in the book, the late President of the Association of Movie Producers (AMP) and founder of African Movies Academy Awards (AMAA), Peace Anyiam-Osigwe said the book is a necessary tool to goad the industry towards the right path for the next 30 years.

    “The Nollywood Industry needs to find its way back to its purest beginning, where collaboration drove the energy in the room. As the industry grew, unfortunately so did its extreme need to be an Industry filled with envy and competitive spirit.

    “I believe that in the next 30 years, Nollywood would have built proper film studios which would help our quality control. For us to remain relevant as the content kings, I would love to see Nollywood look deeper inside, celebrating quality, listening and responding to criticism and pushing towards quality.”

  • 21st Anniversary: Al-Qaeda release book on planning for the 9/11 attacks

    21st Anniversary: Al-Qaeda release book on planning for the 9/11 attacks

    The Al-Qaeda terrorist network on Sunday released a book written by a senior member including a detailed timeline leading up to the attacks on several U.S. airliners on Sept. 11, 2001 which left nearly 3,000 people dead in three locations.

    Marking the 21st anniversary of the attacks, the book was written by Abu Muhammad al-Masri, a senior Al-Qaeda member who was reportedly killed in Iran in 2020.

    In the nearly 250-page volume, he said that al-Qaeda had been preparing for an attack targeting U.S. interests since it set foot in Afghanistan in 1996, with the goal of dragging the U.S. into a long-term war of attrition.

    The initial idea came up when an Egyptian pilot suggested flying a civilian plane carrying thousands of gallons of flammable material into “an important and symbolic American building,” according to the book shared online by al-Qaeda’s media arm, As-Sahab.

    Some militants were chosen for further combat training in 1998 and then enrolled in aviation schools in different parts of the world.

    Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed in Afghanistan in a targeted U.S. airstrike more than a month ago.

    Al-Zawahiri took over in 2011 after Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. special forces at his hideout in Pakistan.

    The terrorist group has not named a new leader yet.

    On Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked four planes and crashed them into several locations in the U.S.

    The attacks sparked the U.S.-led military intervention in Afghanistan.

  • Book: Nigeria Drivers of Digital Prosperity – A Review

    Book: Nigeria Drivers of Digital Prosperity – A Review

    The Trajectories of the Digital Evolution, Sector Analysis and Players’ Contributions, By Aaron Ukodie

    CONNECTING THE DOTS, FROM ANALOGUE TO DIGITAL AND VIRTUAL NIGERIA

    A Review By Biodun Bayo, Veteran ICT Journalist and Communications Specialist

    In the emerging world economies, powerful nations classify the following sub-heads such as ‘Information’, ‘Technology’, ‘Telecommunications’, and ‘Computing’ among others as the nucleus of the new power configurations. Whoever wants to be something and anything in the global arena must basically give attention to computing skills, data analysis, robotics, cybersecurity, programming, business development and sales, blockchain, fintech, food value chain, logistics, hospitality and tourism, sporting skills, music, entertainments, creative arts, fashion, and automobile among others because that is where the likes of global in-demand skills are maximising their opportunities. Brands like Netflix, Google, Tesla, Apple, Amazon, Alibaba, and other multinational giants are already plying their trade on those frontiers.  It is the space for the millennial. This is the pedigree that this book authored by Aaron Ukodie has brought to the fore. This is an interesting, very intriguing, and lucidly written book, in simple prose, which puts the totality of Nigeria’s Telecommunications, Technology, and Computers’ vital details in a single document.

    It is a well-documented experiential perspective of the author who for more than 36 years had been a consistent chronicler of the events, activities, actions and inactions of the active and inactive players and other stakeholders in the various compositions and segments that constitute the ICT and Computer space within the socio-economic trajectories in Nigeria.  The foundation; the beginning of the race to where we are today contained some of the rear details ever written or documented. The roles of players in the public and private sectors, the perspective of the public and private institutions, too, in shaping and moulding the ICT Empire, now, thriving in Nigeria are also included in this book.

    Rather than the traditional designation of a book, made up of various themes, into Chapters, the author preferred to treat the themes and sub-themes in a different nomenclature classified as Sections. There are, therefore, five broad sections in the entire 472-page book.

    With the effort of this author in putting the records in this book form, students, researchers and industry enthusiasts will definitely glean the roles played by some of the key actors, which had remained hitherto cryptic, in the nation’s critical economic and developmental pathways.

    Section One is dedicated to the formative years of telecommunications evolution in Nigeria. This is prior to the independent era in the nation’s governing progressions. The extensive narrations on the pathways to the expansion of telecommunications to the nooks and crannies of the nation also gained traction in this section. This full-blown account of the historical foundation of telecommunications development in Nigeria would help readers extract the parochial underbelly for the introduction of this critical infrastructure by the colonial masters.

    The transition from the core colonial structure of the nation’s telecommunications network, the town by town tracking of the network rollout and what informed the choice of locations for the network rollout helps the reader to understand the apathy of the foreign usurpers in our leadership structure at the time.

    The book also put in perspective the circumstances that triggered the transfer of knowledge, in the running of the telecoms network, to the few Nigerians engaged in the less critical aspect of the network configurations. When, why and how the first Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) emerged is also well detailed here. More interesting is the exposition on the concepts of globalisation, deregulation, liberalisation, commercialisation and privatisation in the telecoms sector. This will help anyone going through the book to appreciate the transition of those global market imperatives and today’s success stories in the telecoms sector.

    Most Nigerians, perhaps, everyone interested in the sudden and massive transformations in the nation’s telecoms sector, will connect well with the contents in the third section because that is the part that brought Nigeria to the limelight in the global telecommunications index.  The author did an incisive unveiling of the telecommunications regulator and the landmark mandate it had to contend with even when there were no antecedents to lift it out of the inherent knowledge mystery. It is an interesting read to note that the journey of DML in Nigeria was not just an instant success story. Aside the curious gang up to push Ernest Ndukwe out of NCC, readers will get insights into the several failed attempts, spanning almost ten years, before the final push which resulted in the global acclaims recorded by the regulator in the auction, award, issuance and the operations of the Digital Mobile Licences in Nigeria.

    The interests of Nigeria’s former Head of State, late General Sani Abacha and the Chagouri family in the GSM market are also profoundly enunciated in this book. The author, in this book, regales us with the intrigues, the ‘battle warriors’ and the traps in the auction processes. The roles of the then Vice President Atiku Abubakar, Chairman NCC Board, late Ahmed Joda and erstwhile EVC NCC, Dr Ernest Ndukwe in by-passing the surreptitious plot to frustrate the successful completion of the DML auction by high ranking government officials is also detailed in this book.

    Also recorded for posterity in this compendium are the developmental strides of broadband growth in Nigeria. Readers will also come to terms with the sacrifice made by NIGCOMSAT to pave the way for the 5G spectrum soon to roll out in Nigeria.

    Why was ‘Surulere’ branded Nigeria’s version of “Silicon Valley” in the 80s and how did this sprawling Lagos Mainland community became the toasts of computing enthusiasts and entrepreneurs? What roles did Chams played in Nigeria’s fertile field of computing expertise and how did data communications emerge in the corporate Nigeria? Did NITEL frustrate or complement the private sector initiative that introduced Data Communications for operational exigencies? These and much more are available in this book. Many will find very interesting details of the pioneering roles played by Corporate Nigeria in the adoption and integration of computers into their operations. The head start initiative by UAC, and how the success story inspired Lever Brothers Nigeria (now Unilever) and First Bank of Nigeria to take a plunge into the uncharted computing highway also featured in this book.

    The book also explored the various ICT interventions in the education sector. The rigorous initiative to make the nation’s tertiary institutions align with global best practice and the struggle with this effort is sufficiently expounded in section two of the book. The transition from the brick and mortal to the virtual classrooms and the various shortcomings with adopting the electronic platforms for teaching and learning are well articulated in the book.  The roles of the national examination bodies; WAEC, NECO, and JAMB among others in embracing the change from the hard-core paper works into the mobile and electronic processing through the portal administration of examinations provides deep connection with the inglorious struggles in the past and the emerging dynamics of the new dawn.

    The author also gave perceptive narration of the various flip-flops in the attempts to create a reliable national IT Policy in Nigeria. The supremacy struggles among the power brokers resulting in the delayed approval of the national IT Policy and how it impacted the nation’s trajectories in IT skills and services/products development, are well documented in this book. How the IT industry fraternal bodies also emerged, transformed or metamorphosed into different nomenclatures featured prominently in this book. The travails, the opportunities and the lessons learnt from the bitter feuds were clearly outlined in this book. Also well detailed is the blow by blow story of how NITDA emerged from the rubbles after years of fits and starts by the stakeholders charged with the establishment of an IT regulator and an industry policy.

    Individuals who led corporate entities and left their names in the quick sand of time in the ICT community are also given credit in this book. It is a loaded field of Ministers, CEOs of regulatory agencies and Blue chip corporations as well as government owned ICT companies. It is a mixed grill of the good, the bad and the ugly patches in their sojourns.

    There is so much to read about some of the great minds who were the bedrocks for the various ICT regulatory agencies and the various brands having a swirl time of roller-skating in the telecoms and IT markets today. From the analogue to the digital transition, the good times and travails endured by the forebears in the industry is robustly captured. The contributions of men and women of distinctions, impeccable character and integrity, who braved the odds to sacrifice so much to carve the niche for Nigeria’s noble contributions to the global index in the computing and ICT global market rankings are also detailed in this book.

    Some of these noble men including the late Ahmed Joda, late Olawale Ige, Ernest Ndukwe, Richmond Aggrey, Raymond, Akwule, Bashir and Nasir El-Rufai, Senator Annie Okonkwo, Demola Aladekomo, Leo Stan-Ekeh, Austin Okere, Chris Uwaje, Titi Omo-Ettu, Emmanuel Ekuwem, Florence Seriki, Gerald Ilukwe, Gbenga Adebayo and Lanre Ajayi are well celebrated in this compendium.

    The last section of the book is dedicated to the Role of the ICT Media in the making of the economic powerhouse that the industry has been transformed into. Readers would enjoy the intrigues that characterised the media fraternal association in the early days.  The ups and downs of the early times in reporting the industry was also aptly captured. The author tried to underscore the rigorous and painstaking processes that the industry reporters endured to generate news item worthy of consideration by the gatekeepers in the various platforms where competition for news space was very keen among reporters. This was particularly more challenging for reporters covering a news genre that was just evolving to gain public attention and readers’ interest. How the beat reporters overcame the initial inertia and became the pride of their Editors is eloquently elucidated in this book.

    It also captured the ruggedness that helped these journalists survive the tidal waves of intrigues to eventually evolve from being mere reporters to media entrepreneurs and publishers of note. The author also recorded for the keen observers of the fourth Estate of the Realm the delicate paths that Journalists often walked in the course of carrying out their constitutionally recognised responsibilities. A classical case in point was encoded in this book when beat reporters almost got entrapped in the high-wired intrigues of a military coup d’état.

    This book’s layout is uniquely expressive in its font choice, design, and formatting. The binding also meets the national standard for tenuous preservation of the book. The layout and font types and size presents a good flow from being very pleasing to the eyes, soothes the mind while galvanising a breath-taking read and engagement page after page. The structure of the book also helps in the compartmentalisation of the thematic focus that the author tried to articulate.

    This book is unique in its own style of presentation of statistics, values, narration and the facts and figures in the ICT development from the pre-independent era till date in Nigeria.

    In concluding, I will like to say that we have a book that has dug into the depth of Nigeria’s ICT roadmap connecting the footprints of the analogue and digital paths to create a virtual future that holds a promising profile for building further prosperity and critical knowledge for industry expansion.

    However, this is not foreclosing the opportunities for other perspectives from the rich intellection of other chroniclers of the industry, among who are also with us in this hall today.

    I challenge these history makers to also put their rich and reach experiences, network of contacts and expertise into a knowledge compendium just as Aaron has uniquely done. So, I am recommending this book for the public and private sectors as there are inherent values that are capable of triggering explosive interactions and knowledge articulation to further open the space and expand the ICT ecosphere in this clime.

    The author has got the pedigree having authored several acclaimed titles in the sub-sector. These include Phones 4 All (2004); Ndukwe & Telecom Regulation: A Walk in Tandem (2007); The Story of NITEL (2015) and Nigeria @ 50: NITDA in National Development. He is also the author of a mini-autobiography titled: The Lead Story: A Diary of an ICT Reporter (2014) and another biography titled: Olagunju: Strides of a Porter’s Son (2013). He is also a co-author of the celebrated 600-page classical book which chronicled the journey of The Guardian titled: The Making of the Nigerian Flagship: A Story of The Guardian.

    Therefore, Research Institutes, Tertiary Institutions, the Academia, Scholars, industry regulatory bodies i.e. NCC, NITDA, NBC, NIPOST, and operators like MTN, Airtel, Globacom, 9mobile, MainOne, Nigcomsat,  Zinox Technologies and other industry operators would be adding value to their private libraries if this book is an addition to their collections.

    When the revised edition of this book shall be imperative, I will particularly like to see the inclusion of maps, charts, tabulated stats, drawings and iconic pictures of events and places from time immemorial across the telecoms, technology, and computing spheres of the industry. It will also be nice to see in the revised edition of this book analytical stats on the trajectory of human capital index in the industry, charts and exclusive pictorial presentations of some of the iconic evolution in the industry.

    There were also issues like the circumstances of the death of Engineer Charles Joseph, the late President of the defunct Mobitel Limited which has remained unresolved decades after. Such unfinished mandate of the media could have added the needed energy to the uniqueness of this book. Perhaps, this also serves as a challenge to the other veterans who watched the evolution of the industry from the time past to the period its history is now being documented to also put their own reckoning of the stages into a book form. Besides, it would have been more apt to have interviews with some of the living legends in the ICT ecosystem. The likes of Ndukwe, Professor Pat Utomi who was a Consultant to NCC during the auction of the DML, Demola Aladekomo, Cletus Iromantu; first EVC of NCC, and Bashir El-Rufai among other leaders of thoughts in the industry who contributed in no small measure to the foundation of the sector’s development.

    On behalf of the author, readers are enjoined to pardon some printer’s devil and a few proof-reading slips which occurred in the book.

    Thanks and enjoy reading the book.

    Olubayo Abiodun

  • Why I openly tore Bishop David Oyedepo’s book – Pastor Bakare

    Why I openly tore Bishop David Oyedepo’s book – Pastor Bakare

    The founder of Citadel Global Community Church (formerly Latter Rain Assembly), Pastor Tunde Bakare, has opened up on his relationship with Bishop David Oyedepo, the founder of Winners’ Chapel.

    The outspoken clergy said while it is true that they both preach different doctrines, however, Oyedepo is not an enemy.

    Bakare said this on Saturday on a monitored TVC programme anchored by Sam Omatseye tagged ‘The Big Talk’.

    A former vice presidential candidate, Bakare spoke about his relationship with fellow Pentecostal pastors in the country.

    “Oyedepo and I are contemporaries. We were born in the same year,” he said.

    “Oyedepo was born in August, 1954, and I was born in September. We are contemporaries, God has really blessed him and used him.

    “We have differences in doctrines, what we believe, but that does not make us enemies,” he said.

    Speaking on an incident where he tore a book written by Oyedepo in the open, Bakare said the book was full of errors.

    “How can someone say the anointing oil is not a symbol of the Holy Spirit? It is the release of God in the bottle. If it is told to few people so, it is okay. If anointing oil is the Holy Spirit, then Jesus is a lamb walking on four legs. They are symbols, and symbols are not as important,” he said.

    Bakare said he and Oyedepo were on a plane one time and another brother was coming over to greet him, but on seeing them together, he froze.

    “There is (a) difference between issues and persons. We can defend the gospel but those who do not and destroy it will die before their time. I have nothing personal against any man of God but I will always defend the truth that I know and I will always make it plain.”

    When asked whether the incident was before Oyedepo acquired his private jet, Bakare said he doesn’t know why the clergyman makes so much noise about his private jet.

    “By the way, when he makes noise about his private jet of a thing, do you know that I once acquired a 1707 with the logo of our church on it? Are you aware of that? But we use it for business. I don’t buy a plane to be spending money on it, that I can jump quickly on another and pay little money to where I’m going.

    “We can afford it; we are not envious of them at all,” he added.

    The clergyman cum politician said Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Church of Christ, signed his wedding certificate as his father and he built his first house on the camp ground being a favoured son.

    Bakare also said he was at Deeper Life Church for about five years before he went to the Redeemed Church.

    “I don’t call those men my colleagues. They are my fathers,” he said, speaking of Pastors Adeboye and William Kumuyi of the Deeper Life Bible Church.

    Speaking on his differences with Oyedepo, Bakare said the gospel and truth is one but when someone “begins to twist the truth to make it funny,” he will speak out.

    “It is a true friend that speaks true to his friend. Mantras will die before their time.

    “When you speak truth, eventually when the truth begins to rule, there will be no element of falsehood,” he said.

    Bakare also talked about politics in Nigeria, corruption and other national matters.

    He said Nigeria cannot stem the tide of corruption until the sons emerge and to tell churches not to do what they are doing, is calling for a blackout.

    The clergyman said there are different types of churches including the compromising church, the corrupt church and the lukewarm church, but it is important not to confuse the crowd with the church.

    He added that he is not a controversial pastor and the controversies are not by him but engineered by God.

  • Ex-NIMASA DG, Dakuku Peterside’s tell-all book to hit stand January 2021

    Ex-NIMASA DG, Dakuku Peterside’s tell-all book to hit stand January 2021

    Safari Books Limited will release the long-expected book, Strategic Turnaround: Story of a Government Agency, by Dr. Dakuku Peterside, former CEO of the Nigerian Maritime and Safety Agency (NIMASA), in January 2021. The book will be released in hardcover, paperback, digital and audio book editions. The 300-page book is a straightforward narrative of events, and turnaround initiatives embarked upon in the Agency in the four years of Dakuku’s management that changed NIMASA from a laggard institution to one of the most respected and admired government agencies in Nigeria.

    The book critically explores leadership and management principles, both theoretically and practically, in a public sector setting, which anyone serious about improving performance in governance must pay attention to. More than a story of successes and failures, the book highlights critical lessons for those desirous of renewing, repositioning or reforming public sector organisations.

    This 13-chapter book expounds on strategic turnaround and performance optimisation in public sector settings. Readers will gain unusual insight into how government and regulatory agencies work and the complexities of achieving an extraordinary result in the face of the challenge of bureaucracy and multiple stakeholders with varied interests.

    Strategic Turnaround: Story of a Government Agency is equally a detailed piece about excellent goal setting in parastatals and agencies and how to achieve the set goals. Every chapter gives the reader ideas on how to move from goals to results.

    The book will not only heighten readers’ curiosity from the first page, but will also leave them with lessons that will make them think differently at the end of every chapter.

    Copies of the book will be sold on African Books Collective website, Amazon marketplace and in reputable bookshops nationwide. A six-city leadership coaching and speaking programme around the country in June 2021 will follow the release of the book.

    Dr. Dakuku Peterside is a columnist, scholar and management practitioner. He has served at all levels of government and two arms of government. He is one of the best-known reform-minded public sector leaders around.

  • BOOK REVIEW: Up-to-date current affairs on Urhobo nation

    BOOK REVIEW: Up-to-date current affairs on Urhobo nation

    Title: UP-TO-DATE CURRENT AFFAIRS ON URHOBO NATION

    Authored by Assin Godstime

    Publisher: Digital Books, Benin City.

    Pages: 108

    Year of Publication: first published in April 2019, republished in August 2020.

    Reviewer: Emmanuel Ogheneochuko Arodovwe

    Amongst the negative consequences of the colonial experience in Africa, nay Nigeria was the misplaced optimism in the possibility of a transferred patriotism from the authouchtonous immediate nations from which the people had grown and had their being and to which they truly belonged, to the artificially created, and whimsically superimposed amalgams. It was thought that such artificial political creations such as Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, etc. would overtime succeed in obliterating the memories, sentiments and patriotic attachments the peoples had for their authentic immediate nations.

    Several strategies were adopted to realise this undesired goal. Among these were the prejudicial design of the educational curriculum to reflect only the interest and sentiments of the colonizers’ country and interests. The language of the coloniser was adopted as medium of instruction in schools and of administration. The history curricula celebrated the heroic feats of the colonizing country in World Wars. Geographical studies were about the positions, resource endowments and alluring physical features of the country of the colonizers rather than of the home society which the student was suppose to be educated about. The naming of states and constituent units were not designed to reflect the identity of the peoples of the implicated territories but after flora and fauna and other geographical features. Hence, the names Delta, Ogun, Niger, Rivers, etc have no trace to the identity of the people in those areas. All these were calculated attempts to format whatever historical and culturally relevant information the people still had retained in their memories regarding their identity and authenticity.

    Post colonial African leaders did very little to redress this anomaly. Instead, they furthered the alienation of their peoples through the retention and adoption of western-devised economic and educational policies. For instance, at Independence in the 1960s, African educational policy makers never saw the need to rework the educational curricula to reflect the interests of their local societies. Indeed for several decades in Nigeria, the teaching of history, of African and Nigerian history inclusive was outlawed. It took several advocacies and pressures for it to be reluctantly re-introduced.

    As bad as the situation stated above suggests, the so-called majority groups in Nigeria – Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo have had a relatively better experience when compared to the minority ones, such as the Urhobo. For the former group, the stories of the heroic feats of some of their exceptional leaders have had the privilege of at least a mention in the curricula and other academic materials. People are familiar for example with the heroics of Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sir Tafawa Balewa, Alhaji Aminu Kano, Uthman Dan Fodio etc of the Hausa Fulani. For the Yoruba, the heroics of Madams Moremi, Fagunwa, Tinubu, Olufunmilayo Ransome Kuti, of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, and countless others are well documented and publicized. The Igbo also have the heroic deeds of Dr. Nnmadi Azikiwe, Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Aguiyi Ironsi, Chinua Achebe etc also well published.

    But when one seeks a document that chronicles the histories and heroics of the exceptional leaders that have emerged from the Urhobo nation, as an instance of one of the minority groups in Nigeria, and their contributions to the Nigerian state, one is highly disappointed that there are no such materials in print. It is scarcely remembered for instance that Gen. David Ejoor played a crucial role in frustrating the ambitions of the break away Biafran troops during the Civil War and ensuring that victory was assured on the side of the Nigerians.

    It is in light of the foregoing that Godstime Assin’s groundbreaking work, Urhobo Current Affairs Vol. 1 is rightly described as not only historic but timely and well attuned with the ideological consciousness of a postmodern age in which difference, variety, identity and authenticity are appreciated and celebrated.

    The book is concise, comprehensive and encyclopedic in terms of the most important figures that have emerged from the Urhobo nation and their positive contribution to both their immediate Urhobo nation and to the larger Nigerian society at large.

    The book can also be described as a “Collection of Firsts” considering that it is an encyclopedia of all major trail blazers and pathfinders in different fields of endeavor from the Urhobo nation. For instance, the first Urhobo university graduate, first Urhoho professor, first Urhobo army General, etc. are all captured in the masterpiece.

    The book is encyclopedic in another sense. It does not limit itself to only a select area of human endeavor. Instead, it’s range covers virtually every area of human enterprise one can imagine: politics, academics, royalty, business, the armed forces, the civil service, law, administration and medicine.

    There are at least 50 short biographies of outstanding Urhobo heroes covered in the work. This is no mean feat by any stretch of the imagination.

    A major feature of Godstime Assin’s classic is the chronicling of the 24 kingdoms into which the Urhobo nation is culturally divided and the over 500 communities contained in these Kingdoms. There is even a more interesting part. The names of the kings, their royal titles and their special ways of being greeted are also included.

    For gender balance, the work also includes a chapter devoted exclusively to high women achievers of the Urhobo.

    The Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) is the apex socio-cultural organization of the Urhobo people, and the oldest of its kind in Nigeria. It was founded in 1931. The author commendably reserves a chapter for a compilation of the names of the patriots that have piloted the affairs of the organization from inception.

    The book has 102 pages with a set of adorable, brightly coloured pictures of present important figures of the Urhobo nation adorning the opening pages. These include the President General of the UPU Olorogun Moses Taiga, the Deputy Senate President Senator Ovie Omo Agege and the Owhorode of Olomu Kingdom.

    Each hero discussed also have a minimized picture at the top left hand corner of the page to add visual effects, improve the aesthetical feel and sustain the interest and attention of the reader.

    It is not often that an intellectual work, in one breath, almost fixes an age-long vacuum of an entire people and puts them on the same lofty standing as others of their equals. Godstime Assin’s work seems to have achieved this easily. The work has made a case for itself as indeed “a book of firsts” of the Urhobo Nation. It would serve as a ready source of reference for all researchers with interest in the Urhobo nation and her people.

  • Chronicles of happiest people on earth: A parable from national urban reality

    Chronicles of happiest people on earth: A parable from national urban reality

    Introduction

    While the formal fact-finding panels pursue their assignment, and bewildered minds attempt to absorb the turn of events, reflect upon, and engage in informal caucuses on ‘what really happened’ during, and following the authentic #ENDSARS campaign, both in the Lekki arena and in horrifying dimensions across the nation, I believe that it will not be out of place to offer a parable extracted from a forthcoming work of fiction. A parable, yes, but an actuality that has become virtually institutionalized across the nation. It is offered as a public service before the events of the month of October 20/20 congeal in the minds of participants, onlookers and consumers of the Nigerian staple of the now mandatory UFN (Unidentified Flying Narratives). The forthcoming novel from which it is extracted — CHRONICLES FROM THE LAND OF THE HAPPIEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD (BookCraft) – will be published towards the end of the month of November, 2020. Read on:

    Excerpt from CHRONICLES

    Adjusting to a new culture was his main concern, but not an insurmountable culture shock. Badagry, after all, albeit closely intertwined with Lagos, was still Badagry. Pitan-Payne was on hand, though keeping a frenetic pace to wind up his affairs and proceed to his UN assignment on schedule. The engineer seemed to thrive on interlocking calendars, and in any case, he now had Menka to pick up the loose ends for him in his absence….

    The timing could not have been more thoughtfully ordained. The unexpected and the planned seemed to dovetail neatly, like the finely adjusted sprockets or his mechanical prototypes. And while Lagos/Badagry lacked the excitement of receiving sudden cartloads of human debris from Boko Haram’s latest efforts to out-Allah Allah in their own image, one could count on gratuitous equivalents from multiple directions. Such as the near daily explosion of a petroleum tanker on the expressway or city centre. Or a roofless lorry bulging with cattle and humans tipping over on a bridge and dropping several feet onto an obliging rock outcrop in the midst of the river.

    Sometimes, more parsimoniously, a victim of military amour propre – in uniform or mufti, it made no difference. That class seemed to believe in safety in numbers, and all it took was that even a low-ranking sergeant should take offence at another motorist, who perhaps refused to give way to his car, a mere ‘bloody civilian’, never mind that the latter had the right of way. An on-the-spot educational measure was mandated. Guns bristling, his accompanying detail, trained to obey even the command of a mere twitch of the lip, leapt out of their escort vehicle, dragged out the hapless driver, unbuckled their studded belts, whipped him senseless, threw him in the car boot or on the floor of the escort van and took him to their barracks for further instruction. However, the wretch sometimes created a problem by suffocating en route – which left society to develop structures for neutralizing such inconvenience.

    The contradicting, ironic sequence occurred to Menka only for the first time – yes, come to think of it, the military hardly ever recorded a fatality – once or twice, maybe even three times in a month — yes, the accident of excess did happen, but mostly such terminal disposal was left to the police, whose favourite execution site was a road block, legal or moonlighting. Perhaps a recalcitrant commuter, or passenger bus driver had refused to collaborate in providing a bribe on demand, or insulted the rank of the demanding officer with a derisive sum. And it did not have to be the original offender but some too-know grammar spouting public defender who had intervened on behalf of the potential source of extortion. The outcome was predictable – victim or good Samaritan advocate instantly joined the statistics of the fallen from ‘accidental discharge’. The expression was still current, but often it was anything but. Accidents had become infrequent and unfashionable. Oftener to be expected was that the frustrated, froth-lipped police pointed the gun, calmly, deliberately, at the head of the unbelieving statistic and, pulled the trigger. Again, the inconvenience of body disposal.

    But then, the community of victims themselves – what a specialized breed of the species! The roles, it constantly appeared, had become gleefully, compulsively interchangeable. Allowing him only a few days to ‘catch your breath and get your bearings’, Pitan-Payne lost no time in taking Menka to inspect the land designated for the Gumchi Rehabilitation Centre, for victims of Boko Haram, ISWAP and other redeemers – nothing like striking while the iron was hot! On their way, the familiar sight of crowd agitation – how would the day justify itself without some kind of street eruption somewhere, wherever! Trapped in the chug-stop-chug of traffic, the favourite commuter distraction was to attempt to guess what was the cause, and even place bets on propositions. That morning, Menka’s first in nearly a year down south did not disappoint. But for the milling blockage by intervening viewers, they could have claimed the privilege of ringside seats. Compensating for that obstructed viewing however was the sight of men and women trotting gaily, anticipation all over their faces, towards the surrounded spot of attraction.

    From every direction they came, some vaulting over car bonnets, squishing their legs against the fenders, squeezing through earlier arrived bodies or simply scrabbling for discovered vantage viewing points. They climbed on parked vehicles and the raised concrete median. Commuter buses slowed down and stopped, keke napep — the motor-cycle taxis — pulled aside, drivers and passengers alike rubber necking on both sides of, or in the direction of a wide gutter that sank into a culvert. The lights changed to green and Pitan-Payne drove on, their last shared image a pair of muscular arms raised above the bobbing heads, clutching an outsize stone, slamming that object downwards into the gutter. Very likely a snake, Pitan suggested. With the rainy season, quite a few sneaked through the marshes into culverts and slithered their way into parking lots and even offices.

    A police van came racing down the road, against the traffic, strobes flashing and sirens blaring, so Menka looked back, saw the crowd drawing back and drifting reluctantly away from the uniformed spoilsports. This opened an avenue just in time for Menka to obtain the briefest glimpse of an object slumped over the rim of the gutter, once human, but not any longer. Indeed the only human identity left him was his iodine-red tunic and black trousers, still recognizable as the uniform of a LASA officer, an unarmed unit whose function was simply to unplug traffic – stoppered as readily by truculent drivers as by the roadside markets, vendors of all the world commodities who had taken over the streets, haggled, negotiated, delivered change and goods at their own pace. If the activities delayed movement over half a dozen changes from red to green and back again, it did not concern them in the least.

    Later that evening, the television newscast narrated the full story. After futile spurts of preventive measures, Authority had commenced arrests of vendors and seizures of their wares. The LASA team, their van parked in a side street, had pursued several such malfeasants. In a desperate attempt to escape capture however, one ran straight into the snout of a speeding vehicle, was tossed up, landed with an ominous thud on the sidewalk and remained there, unmoving. In a trice, a mob had gathered. They set the parked LASA vehicle on fire and worked up further appetite for vengeance. The unarmed officers had already fled. A hunt party pursued and eventually brought down a scapegoat, quite some distance from the actual scene of crime. They proceeded to the ritual battering of their catch. He broke free, ran into the gutter, tried crawling into the culvert for safety. They dragged him out by his feet, trunk and head smeared and reeking from the accumulated sludge of the blocked tunnel. Passers-by, totally ignorant of the beginning or mid-act of the mayhem, refused to be left out. They grabbed the nearest assault weapon to hand and joined in the gratification of the thrill for the day, a newbreed citizen phenomenon. The massive stone, raised above a throng of heads, quivered lightly against a Lagosian skyline of ultra-modern skyscrapers before its descent onto bone and brain. It took on an iconic dimension that stuck instantly to Menka’s surgical album of retentions, a rampant insignia of the transfiguration of a collective psyche.

    “I envy you” Menka remarked the following morning, as they confronted the print media coverage, their scalding coffee no match for the nausea aroused by the photograph sensationally smeared across the front page. “You are going away for a while. You’ll be spared such sights.”
    “I feel guilty”. confessed Duyole. “Guilty, but yes, that is one spectacle I shall not miss.”
    “Careful!” Menka quickly cautioned. They have their equivalents over there. Ask the black population.”

    “No. Not like this. Occasionally yes, there does erupt a Rodney King scenario. Or a fascistic spree of ‘I can’t breathe’. America is a product of slave culture, prosperity as the reward of racist cruelty. This is different. This – let me confess – reaches into – a word I would rather avoid but can’t – soul. It challenges the collective notion of soul. Something is broken. Beyond race. Outside colour or history. Something has cracked. Can’t be put back together.” And then Pitan-Payne gasped, paused, folded over the pages and passed the newspaper to Menka. “Take a look at this. Not that it changes anything but – here, read it yourself.”

    There was a chastening coda. It altered nothing. The fleeing vendor, whom no one had even thought to help, was very much alive. He had picked himself up, salvaged most of his scattered goods, and found his way home despite a sprained ankle and some bruises. Most of the earlier spectators had retreated to a safe distance. They continued what they had been doing earlier – filming the action with their phone cameras. The police did however capture the Goliath with the terminating stone who had administered the coup de grace. He remained on the spot, to all appearance, admiring the evidence of his work.
    He vehemently protested the injustice of his arrest: “I thought he was an armed robber.”