Cometonigeria vol 8 issue 01 2017

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LIFE AND STYLE OF THE COUNTRY

Vol. 08 | Issue 01 | 2017 03

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£5. €6. $8. R50. ₦1500 www.cometonigeria.com

City in Focus: Sounds and Beats of

ONITSHA

Hot issue: Can Culture and Tourism really be the bedrocks of Nigeria’s economy?

MADE IN NIGERIA PRODUCTS Patriotic,durable and satisfying REGULARS: SHOPPING TRAVEL & INVESTMENT NEWS FAMOUS FIRSTS INSPIRATIONAL NIGERIANS RESTAURANTS & BARS

Music of Nigeria Omawumi Megbele, a Nigerian singer, songwriter and actress from Warri, Delta State Nigeria.

Adventure Coming to Nigeria

by Pam Sam -Advocating for a change in Nigeria’s Tourist visa policy

EXPLORE * SHOP * EAT *INVEST *ENJOY

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CONTENTS

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OF NIGERIA CONTENTS

Regulars 18 Travel/Investment News 25 Next Issue 66 Gadgets Cover photography:

Baro Port, Niger State Copyright: Anthony Fernandez

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07

Publisher’s statements

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Editorial

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Postcards

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What you should know

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Hot Issue

Travel images from Nigeria Tobi Oyedokun, Victor Ibeabuchi and Tijjani Shehu Yahaya

A brief look at what you need to know before you go Can Culture & Tourism really be the Bedrocks of Nigeria’s economy?

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Lunch time in Nigeria

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Featured Story

The making of Banga Soup

Made in Nigeria Products

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Adventure

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Nigeria Fashion

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Famous firsts in Nigeria

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My Nigeria

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Webpreneurs

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Letters and comments

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Book reviews

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Inspirational Nigerians

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Music of Nigeria

Coming to Nigeria Flora Nwapa Otunba Ayora Bolajoko Aduke Kuforiji-Olubi

Featuring blogs and websites by Nigerians

Featuring Zizi Cardow

Lynne R. Baker PhD. assitant Professor American University of Nigeria

Review of books by Nigerian writers

Rt. Hon. Yusuf Sulaimon Lasun Lakin Ogunbanwo .

Omawumi Megbele; Singer, songwriter and actress

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Copyright 2017 CometoNigeria Magazine. ISSN 2044-1932

Published By:

Jollof Limited The Old Saint Lawrence School Building, Westminster Road, Kirkdale, Liverpool L4 3TQ UK Tel/Fax: + 44(0) 151 9222911 Mob: +44 (0) 75 51574179 Email: info@cometonigeria.com Website: http://www.cometonigeria.com/

In Nigeria:

Newday Nigeria Limited, Tel: +234 (0)8146357485, (0)8023023710, (0)8025633323, (0)7062220505 and 08032877360

In America:

4930 Heritage Valley Drive, Douglasville, Atlanta, GA 30135 Tel: +1-678-732-7070, 678-637-7700, All editorial and advertising enquiries should be forwarded to: info@cometonigeria.com OR cometonigeria@gmail.com

Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Oladimeji Adisa

Associate Editors

Editor

Declan McSweeney

Dayo Adeniran, Gina Lisa Pate, Neil Peacock, Nancy Adegbenro

Graphics

Production Manager

Legal Adviser

Lanre Sangobunmi Ranti Adisa

Adeyemi A. Adisa

Marketing

Dayo Adeniran Abdulhakeem B. Olanigan Yekinni Opeloyeru Morgan Okunnuga Adewale Adenrele

Photography

Tijjani Shehu Yahaya, Tobi Oyedokun, Orbit Imagery, Olori Olawale, Irene Becker, Devesh Uba Kunle Oladeinde, Victor Ibeabuchi Chukwuemeka B. Ikechukwu

Distributors in Nigeria Newsstand Agencies Ltd Tel: +234 709 8123 459 newsstand2008@gmail.com

Distributors in UK

Post Scriptum Tel: +44 208 526 7779 davidjones@postscriptum.co.uk

Stories

Ekundayo Adeniran Salamatu Sule Dr John Y Osammor Chukwuemeka B. Ikechukwu Pam Sam Janine Udogu Amadi Inya

Editorial Board

Dr John Osammor, Ade Arogundade, Fatai Ogunribido, Neil Peacock, Wale Ojo-Lanre, Nancy Adegbenro, Bisi Ogunbadejo and Oladimeji Adisa

OF NIGERIA PUBLISHER’S STATEMENT

LIFE AND STYLE OF THE COUNTRY

Publisher’s Statement

N

orman Vincent Peale said “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” That is what we think Nigeria needs to aim at now that the economic situation is bad.

Samuel Jackson’s words, “Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance” fitted our efforts to keep the production of this magazine going despite all the challenges faced.

This quarter’s issue of ‘Come To Nigeria’ brought into the open the problems facing tourism in Nigeria, irrespective of numerous calls by the government and the people of Nigeria to see tourism as the new frontier that will heal the economy of foreign exchange scarcity.

OLADIMEJI ADISA It is still an assumption that Nigeria can make anything from Publisher/Editor-in-Chief tourism when our borders remain closed to tourists.

In July 2012, I received a message from one of the followers of our website, Stephen Hammond, wanting to know if the point of entry visa that was much talked about before has started or not. The truth is that, as we are entering 2017, the point of entry visa is still not introduced.

I have personally visited countries like Egypt, South Africa, Tanzania and Morocco and all of them have point of entry visa systems, meaning that citizens of some western countries actually don’t require visas to come in. That is the reason why they continue to make money from tourism.

Depending on where you live, some people pay more than $350 to obtain Nigerian visiting visas and the conditions and requirements for applicants still remain obsolete. The need for a change in visa policy is crucial to the success of tourism development in Nigeria.

This edition’s city in focus showcases the sounds and beats of Onitsha in Anambra State, the “Light Of The Nation”. It features where to go, what to do and others things that make the ancient city of Onitsha tick.

Whether you are making a first visit or renewing old acquaintance or even if you are a Nigerian in diaspora contemplating a visit, there is plenty to see in Nigeria.

Placing Nigeria first is what the current government is advocating. The change according to the government is to begin with every individual. Made in Nigeria products, therefore, are the keys to achieving the bouncing back of the Nigerian economy. We have the skills, the products and the people that our associate editor, Ekundayo Adeniran, outlined in this edition that you will enjoy.

May I wish all our readers a warm and prosperous 2017 and we look forward to seeing you soon, with or without an umbrella. This spackling edition is edited by Declan McSweeney and with his wealth of editorial experience, I am sure some of you willing to come to Nigeria will really enjoy the content of this issue.

Oladimeji Adisa

While the publisher of CometoNigeria Travel Magazine makes every effort to ensure that the content of the magazine is accurate at the time of going to press, it cannot accept responsibility for any error that may appear. The publisher strongly suggests all visitors to Nigeria ensure travel documents and vaccines are up to date before travelling.

The editor of the magazine is happy to receive contributions.

However, while every care is taken with materials submitted, neither the editor nor the publisher can accept responsibility for the material. All submitted materials must include the contributor’s name and address. CometoNigeria cannot guarantee the return of submitted material.

Copyright 2016 CometoNigeria Magazine. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any form or stored in any form on a retrieval system without the prior permission of the publisher.

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Keep in touch with us

On Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/cometonigeria On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/come.to.nigeria On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/cometonigeriaTV On Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cometonigeria

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Declan McSweeney Editor

his issue contains an extensive focus on the Made in Nigeria campaign, under which the Federal Government is encouraging its citizens to purchase indigenous products where possible.

With that in view, it is hardly surprising that Zizi Cardow’s feature looks at the country’s burgeoning fashion industry. With a long-established range of traditional garments for both men and women, Nigeria has a haute couture which bids fair to rival that of France.

The importance of buying Nigerian products cannot be exaggerated, as clearly it has enormous benefits for the wider economy. Every naira spent on the output of a local manufacturer has a knock-on effect for retailers, for the restaurant trade, the motor trade and so on.

The issue also includes a focus on the great city of Onitsha. It is an area with a rich culture, and is home to the popular Ofala Festival, which keeps traditional arts alive, under the encouragement of the Obi. With its fine range of hotels and restaurants, there is something for everyone in Onitsha.

Our issue also looks at the experience of Pam Sam Nigeria adventure bringing into the open the need for drastic policy change by Nigeria government to enable more tourists to come in, but it also includes a feature on the local music scene by Omagbeni, a gadgets review and an outline of works by Nigerian writers.

The land that produced Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka continues to produce men and women of great literary talent.

In a nutshell, this issue of ‘Come to Nigeria’ has something for all tastes and ages, and it is to be hoped that after reading it you will be encouraged to see Nigeria’s multitude of attractions for yourself.

Declan McSweeney

This edition Editor’s picks Music of Nigeria Omawumi Megbele Nigerian singer, songwriter and actress from Warri, Delta State of Nigeria popularly known by her stage name Omawumi.

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Sounds and Beats of Onisha

The Onitsha Main Market is no doubt a world of its own. Nothing could be prompt enough to define the market believed to be the largest place of buying and selling in the West African sub region.

Adventure of Pam Sam

Coming to Nigeria -Advocating for a change in Nigeria’s Tourist visa policy.

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OF NIGERIAEDITORIAL

Editorial

TRAVEL IMAGES

POSTCARDS Travel images from Nigeria

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Victor Ibeabuchi

My Travelling images

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ictor Ibeabuchi is an Estate Surveyor and Facility Management Consultant resident in Lagos Nigeria. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Marvelfairs Realties Limited - A firm engaged in Strategic Facility Planning, Total Facility Management Services, Facility Audits and Project Management Consultancy Services with work experience spanning for about 10(ten)years .

A dedicated professional with the zeal and passion for operational efficiency within the work environment, Victor has over the years, developed passion for Aerial and Landscape photography which reflects in his works.

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He can be reached on marvelfairs.realties@gmail.com

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Osborne Foreshore Estate Fascinating view of Osborne Foreshre Estate City

The iconic Lekki Ikoyi Bridge The 1,358metre long bridge is suspended by a 90metre tall pylon supported by cables. Early construction works commenced In September 2009 and was commissioned on May 29, 2013. As a matter of fact, this is the first of its kind in the West African sub region. This pic is a unique version of the edifice, because of all pictorial representations of this monument, no one has publicly displayed any angular photoshot from the position where it was taken. As a matter of fact, the angle and position from where this image was snapped has been barricaded for security reasons.

The MMA2

The Murtala Mohammed Airport Two (popularly known as MMA2) was conceived as a result of a concessionary agreement between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Bi-Courtney Consortium. Built to international standards, the Airport Facility was commissioned in April 2007 and is dedicated to domestic flight services.

The Nigerian Conservation Foundation Nature Park, Lekki Peninsula

The Nigerian Conservation Foundation was conceived by the Late Chief Shafi Lawal Edu. Incorporated as a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), while focusing on Biodiversity conservation and Environmental Management in Nigeria, the Facility comprises of a 78 hectare Nature Park, which attracts tourists within and outside Nigeria

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TRAVEL IMAGES

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TRAVEL IMAGES

1 Tijjani Shehu Yahaya

Northern Nigeria through my lens

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He is the CEO of K-SERIES Phones Company and CEO K-SERIES Multimedia Limited. He is the current National Vice President of Kannywood Film Producers Association

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ith a strong academic background and professional experience in Media, Tijjani Shehu Yahaya record nature as it is. His work deploys the power of art and culture that entertain, bring out as well as explains the diverse nature of today’s Nigeria.

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KOFAR MATA DYEING PITS

The Kofar Mata Pits are a part of the history of the ancient city of Kano. These pits that date back 5 centuries ago, during the golden age of Kano when it rivaled the riches of Timbuktu, gave Kano its place as a top textile manufacturer. Textiles are dyed in these pits, with various aesthetically pleasing designs.

KOFAR NA’ISA GATE The Ancient Kano City Gate (Hausa: Kofar Na’isa) were ancient defensive gates that were built in order to protect citizens and inhabitants of the ancient city of Kano.[1] Built between 1095 AD through 1134 AD and completed in the middle of the 14th century, the Ancient Kano City Walls were described as “’the most impressive monument in West Africa” it was renovated later in 2012.

CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was established by the Cbn act of 1958 and commenced operations on July 1, 1959.

The major regulatory objectives of the bank as stated in the CBN Act are to: maintain the external reserves of the country, promote monetary stability and a sound financial environment, and to act as a banker of last resort and financial adviser to the federal government.

The central bank’s role as lender of last resort and adviser to the federal government has sometimes pushed it into murky regulatory waters. After the end of imperial rule the desire of the government to become pro-active in the development of the economy became visible especially after the end of the Nigerian civil war, the bank followed the government’s desire and took a determined effort to supplement any short falls in credit allocations to the real sector.

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TRAVEL IMAGES

POSTCARDS Travel images from Nigeria

1 Tobi Oyedokun

My Travelling images

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obi Oyedokun is a passionate documentary and street photographer, as well as event photographer based in Nigeria. His love for travelling and adventure contributed to his will of telling Indigenous African stories with his lens. Tobi has taken up several assignment documenting people and places. www.tobioyedokun.blogspot.com

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Beautiful Sunset at the beach

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The Classic Lekki Conservation Centre

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An aerial view of Kano

An aerial view of kano, Sighting the central Mosque, Shot from Dusten Dala Hill, Kano State.

Gidan Makama Museum

Front view of the Gidan Makama Museun, established in the 1440’s AD

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ESSENTIALS

YOUGO BEFORE

When to visit!

Currency

Entry formalities

Nigeria can be visited all year round but the traveller planning a visit should take the following into consideration: rainfall, particularly in the south, between May and September. Rainfall can be heavy in June and can cause some inconveniences.

Temperature ranges from 23–31°C in the south, with high humidity and much higher in the north. A cooler, but dusty harmattan season usually stretches from December to January.

Nigeria’s currency is the naira (N) which is divided into 100 kobo. Currency notes are issued in denominations of N5, N10, N20, N50, N100, N500 and N1000. Coins are issued in 10K, 25K, and N1. Except for hotel bills in some hotels, foreigners can do their shopping and other business in the local currency. There are a number of Bureau De Change and banks at each international airport where the visitor can convert from local to foreign currency, and vice versa.

Major banks with international branches operate electronic money transfer services, and it is safe to use your credit cards. It is safe to use your credit cards for your hotel bills and at other recognised outlets.

Visitors from the Commonwealth countries as well as other nations require an entry permit, obtained in advance, and the application should be supported by a letter of invitation and a return ticket for the journey. Processing will take at least two days.

HAUSA and FULANI

KANURI

MARGI KAMBERI

BORIM

Currency regulations

NUPE JUKUN IGBIRA TIV IDOMA

YORUBA IGALA LAGOS

EDO EKOI

IBO

IJAW

IBIBIO

Language English is the official language of Nigeria and it is used at all levels of administration, law, commerce and education. It is spoken with varying degrees of fluency by 50% of the population, making Nigeria the largest English speaking country in Africa. However, there are three major ethnic languages: Hausa - mainly spoken in the North; Yoruba - spoken in the West; and Igbo - spoken in the East. Another widely spoken language in Nigeria is the Pidgin English (though with varying regional influences on dialect and slang). Other Languages include Kanuri, Edo etc.

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There are no restrictions on importation of foreign currency. A currency declaration is, however required both on arrival and departure, for large sums of money in excess of US$5,000.00. Import or export of Nigerian currency is strictly limited to N5.000 (five thousand Naira only). Hotel expenses or bills may be paid for in foreign currency. Personal baggage up to 20 kilograms and belongings such as cameras and laptops for the use of bonafide visitors are admitted free of duty. In addition, 200 cigarettes or 50 cigars or 225 grams tobacco are allowed. The importation of illegal drugs is punishable by a jail term.

Health regulations An international vaccination certificate against yellow fever (10 years) is required.

Cholera (six months) is also required if coming from an infected area. Prophylactic anti-malaria and TB inoculation are recommended. Nigeria is a tropical country and therefore, it is necessary to protect yourself against malaria. It is advisable to take recommended medication from your country of departure. The most recommended drug for use in Nigeria is Chloroquine Phosphate taken once a week.

To be started two weeks before departure continued throughout the stay here until two weeks after returning.

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ESSENTIALS To enter Nigeria, a valid passport and visa are both required for nationals of virtually all countries. Passports must be valid for at least six months after the period of intended stay. All visitors to Nigeria must hold passports or ECOWAS travelling documents (for nationals from ECOWAS member countries). Citizens of countries for which Nigeria requires visas must obtain entry information and visas in advance from Nigerian embassies or consulates abroad. Visas cannot be obtained aboard planes or at the airport. Check your nearest Nigerian embassy or consulate for more information on travel requirements.

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Reaching Nigeria

Baggage Examinations

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS

By Air: There are international airports in Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt Domestic flights operate between all the major cities. Some airlines that fly to Nigeria include Arik Air (London, New york - Lagos, Abuja), British Airways (London - Abuja, Lagos), Virgin Atlantic (London Lagos), KLM (Amsterdam - Abuja, Lagos, Kano), Air France (Paris- Lagos and Port Harcourt), Alitalia (Milan -Abuja, Lagos), Turkish Airline (Istanbul -Lagos), Lufthansa (Frankfurt - Abuja, Lagos), Iberia Airlines (Madrid-Lagos), North American Airlines (Baltimore/Washington, New York - Lagos), Delta Airlines (Atlanta - Lagos). Others include China Southern Airlines, Emirates, Middle East Airlines, Qatar Airways etc.

International airports in Nigeria are staffed

by Customs Officers who conduct normal checks of baggage on all international arrivals. Standard security checks are in operation at all Nigerian entry ports.

1 Jan: New Year’s Day 26 Feb: Mouloud (Birth of the Prophet) 25 Mar: Good Friday 28 Mar: Easter Monday 1 May Workers’ Day 29 May: Democracy Day 1 Oct: Independence Day 06 Jul Eid al-Fitr (End of Ramadan) 10 Sept Eid al-Kabir (Feast of the Sacrifice) 25 Dec: Christmas; 26 Dec: Boxing Day

Getting around Public Transport: The entire country is well connected.

Getting around is relatively easy, except that there could be delays owing to traffic jams in some cities. As usual, there are multitudes of coaches and buses that will take you to any part of Nigeria you wish.

Self Drive / Hire Cars: Road conditions in the cities are good.

Petrol is very cheap in Nigeria. Driving is on the right hand side and an International Driving Licence is required. Car hire is available in Lagos, Abuja and other major cities.

By Boat:

MUSLIM FESTIVALS

GIFT SHOP Airport customs Visitors to Nigeria are allowed 4 litres of alcoholic beverages and 200 cigarettes duty-free. Visitors may export souvenirs, although some articles (e.g. animals skins and antiques) require an export permit.

Illegal drugs of any description are not allowed into Nigeria. Please check with a Nigerian Embassy, Consulate or High Commission nearest to you for current information before departure.

Muslim festivals are timed according to local sightings of various phases of the moon and the dates given above are approximations. During the lunar month of Ramadan that precedes Eid al-Fitr, Muslims fast during the day and feast at night and normal business patterns may be interrupted. Many restaurants are closed during the day and there may be restrictions on smoking and drinking.

Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Kabir (Eid al-Adha) may last anything from two to 10 days, depending on the region.

Time Zone Nigeria is 1 hour ahead of GMT, meaning that during daylight savings, it would be 12:00 in London, 1:00pm in Nigeria and 8:00am in New York.

Transport by boat is not widespread unless you venture into Lagos and other riverine areas of Nigeria.

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UPDATES/NEWS

Travel

vandalization in these sectors.’’

On the insurgency, Lai said the strategy adopted by the Buhari administration, military and international support had led to the success in decimating the insurgents and restoring local governments that were once before under boko haram control.

“Because of the success of the Nigerian government, you can see that there is now even factionalization within the boko haram.

Nigerian military has achieved a rare feat in fighting insurgency.’’

He cited the experience of the Colombian government with the FARC rebels and how a compromise was achieved after over 50 years, saying it was rare, what Nigerian military had achieved in the fight against boko haram.

Change begins with me’ campaign will succeed

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he federal government’s re-orientation campaign called ‘Change begins with me’ will succeed based on the commitment of Nigeria’s leadership.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed told Voice of Nigeria in an interview programme, ’’In the News’’, that leading by example as exemplified by President Muhammadu Buhari , ministers and other appointees, showed the campaign would succeed.

He said every Nigerian had a role to play to help fast track the realization of the nation’s development objectives. ‘’We tagged it ‘Change begins with me’ because we believed that in this period of rebirth and national consciousness, each and every one of us must change the way we do things.’’

Lai Mohammed said Nigeria’s problem was not only that of leadership but followership, as every member needed to play his role for the desired results.

He said “if only this attitudinal and behavioral change had taken place before now, Nigeria would not be where it is today in the country. The money meant for the execution of the boko haram war was diverted in this country.

This won’t have happened if people were honest, patriotic, nationalistic and this

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campaign is about patriotism, nationalism and taking ownership of the country.’’

Lai said “most ministers today are making personal sacrifices to ensure that this government succeeds. Ministers today obey traffic regulations, queue up at airports. So the ministers today are just ordinary people just like those they govern.”

He added that ‘’anybody that says there is no change, then he has not looked hard enough as there is change from impunity to accountability and that is very important… not only the introduction of TSA but the introduction of efficiency units in every ministry today.’’

Lai Mohammed said that “as we speak today, the number of Internally Displaced Persons camps are reducing and many are voluntarily returning home and with the combined efforts of the Borno state government and donor agencies, Nigeria is addressing the humanitarian crisis.”

The Minister said Nigeria would soon achieve the diversification of the economy using agriculture and solid minerals as the main focus and assured Nigerians and foreign investors that by 2018, the nation would be self sufficient in wheat, rice and dairy products.

Lai also assured Nigerins that there were additional efforts to use tourism and culture as alternative sources of revenue that could support government’s development initiatives.

He said the tourism sector would be used to create more jobs and improve the economy with the Durbars, Argungu Festival in Kebbi state and a lot of tourists sites, along with plans to adopt a visa-on-arrival policy.

Corruption The Information and Culture Minister said the corruption was beyond the stealing of government funds but also about the issues of vandalization, fake drug sales as well as sabotage in the oil and electricity sectors.

“Do you know how many innocent Nigerians have died because they went to patent medicine stores and they were sold fake medicine drugs?

Our campaign will also affect such people or the fellow that goes to vandalized pipelines.

This is the kind of change we are talking about.’’

He added that ‘’ as we speak today, Nigeria is losing one million barrels of crude a day due to vandalization and one thousand megawatts of electricity, also due to www.cometonigeria.com

UPDATES/NEWS

South Africa pledges more support for Nigeria

Air Peace begins flights to Uyo

A

ir Peace has announced that it would commence flight operations on the Lagos-Uyo route from December 18.

The airline also assured its customers that it had made adequate preparation with vendors for the supply of aviation fuel throughout the festive period and beyond, to ensure hitch-free operations.

Air Peace made the announcement in a statement issued by its Corporate Communications Manager, Chris Iwarah on Saturday.

The statement said the the airline was expanding its flight operations to Uyo in response to the yearnings of Akwa Ibom people and other air travellers.

It said the timing of the airline’s maiden flight to the state was to give air travellers on the Uyo route a dependable alternative and cater to the huge traffic to the state during the yuletide.

“On Sept. 9, we inaugurated our Lagos-BeninLagos and Abuja-Benin-Abuja flight operations to give air travellers a reliable option.

“The inauguration has not only been a huge success, but has also drastically reduced the difficulties faced by air travellers on the Benin route.

“However, since the inauguration of Air Peace Benin operations, our numerous loyal customers and other air travellers have increased their calls on us to take our spectacular flight experience to Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

“We are pleased to announce the commencement of our flight operations out of Lagos into Uyo on Dec. 18 and out of Uyo into Lagos on Dec. 19, ‘’ the statement said.

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According to the statement, Akwa Ibom is a burgeoning economic and tourist centre in the South-South region of Nigeria.

It added that this status had led to a huge leap in the demand for air travel to and out of the state, which had so far been met with mostly disappointment.

The statement said: “Air Peace, therefore, felt it was time to respond to the yearnings of our numerous loyal customers and other air travellers to expand to the state.

“And there is no better time to do that than this yuletide, when a lot of Nigerians and foreigners will be accessing Akwa Ibom for one activity or the other.”

It said the good news was coming at a time the airline had also made arrangements with aviation fuel vendors to ensure availability of the product to enable it seamlessly take air travellers to its different destinations in the country.

“We have been able to secure the commitment of different aviation fuel vendors, besides our regular suppliers.

“They are ready to make the product available to us because they trust us. We don’t only promptly pay our vendors, we also provide them with funds well in advance, to ensure there is no excuse for non-availability of the product.

“The operating environment may be challenging, but Air Peace irrevocably believes that air travellers deserve on-time, safe, comfortable and affordable flight experience,” it added.

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he Consul-General of the South African High Commission in Nigeria, Mr Darkey Africa, on Wednesday announced his government’s new plans to further support Nigeria in the development of her agriculture and tourism sectors.

Africa told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the South African Government’s move was to support President Muhammadu Buhari’s ongoing economic diversification drive.

“As we all know, the Federal Government of Nigeria is currently looking at how best to diversify its economy.

“We know how much that Nigeria is looking at the possibility of moving away from a single product economy into a multiproduct economy.

“And we know how central the development of Nigeria’s agriculture and tourism sectors would be in this drive.

“So, we stand ready to make sure that all agreements signed between Nigeria and South Africa in the development of her agriculture and tourism sectors are well implemented,” he said.

Africa said that it was imperative for Nigeria to know that the development of her agriculture and tourism sectors would boost her revenue, as well as create more employment opportunities.

The Consul-General also said that his government was prepared to share its agricultural development expertise with Nigeria, to enable her boost her food production for both local and international consumption.

Africa said that the South African Government had recently evolved a discussion with the Delta State Government on the possibility of a partnership between them for agriculture development.

“We need to jointly tackle the issue of job creation, poverty and at the center, it should be the issue of food security through a sustainable agricultural sector.

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Investment

Ex-Gov. Duke advocates for revival of tourism in Nigeria From left: Senator Babajide Omoworare, the Chairman Senate Committee on Culture and Tourism, Senator Matthew Urhoghide, Senator David Umaru and the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed

U.S. to Help Nigeria Diversify Economy

T

he Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has inaugurated the Technical Committee on the Review of Nigeria’s Tourism Master Plan, with a call on members to articulate realistic policies that will drive tourism from the periphery to the mainstream of the economy. From left: The Director, International Tourism, Mrs. Ronke Wole Fasanya; Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Mrs. Ayo Adesugba, and the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, at the inauguration of the Technical Committee on the Review of Nigeria’s Tourism Master Plan in Abuja. Speaking at the inauguration in Abuja, the Minister said even though the Tourism Master Plan was designed in 2006, a plan of action to implement it was abandoned half way, hence the need for members of the committee to review the Plan in consonance with contemporary challenges and realities and the peculiarities of Nigeria. “This team is to review our own Tourism Master Plan and see which aspect of that Master Plan needs to be reviewed in consonance with what has happened both in terms of technology, politics and even in terms of climate change. “We are talking about reasonable and sustainable tourism because what we are offering to the world in terms of cultural and natural resources are also dependent on Mother Nature, and you must make sure that we do not expend it or expose it in a manner that children unborn will not have anything to show for it,” he said.

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this administration to make tourism one of the pillars of the nation’s economy is the resuscitation of the Presidential Council on Tourism (PCT) and the review of the Master Plan. He said the Steering Committee on the PCT had already commenced the drafting of the Council’s agenda, which will be handed over to the President. The Minister also disclosed the readiness of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) to assist Nigeria in the review of the Master Plan, having contributed immensely to the drafting of the initial plan. He underscored the need to develop a synergy among all sectors of government, the private sector and the local community in order to have a multi-sectoral approach towards the development of tourism in Nigeria. “The thing about tourism is that it’s probably the most inclusive of all endeavours in life,” Alhaji Mohammed said, noting that in tourism, the Ministries of Agriculture Health, Power, Works and Housing and even Trade and Investment are all important, ”and until we take this on board we will not be able to transit from being a country of huge tourism potential to a country’s who’s economy will be driven by tourism and this is the beginning”. Members of the Review Committee include representatives from the Federal Ministries of Information and Culture, Interior, Budget and National Planning, National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism, as well as the National Association of Nigeria’s Travel Agencies.

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he former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, has advocated for more attention to be focused towards reviving the tourism sector as it cuts across other sectors of the economy.

Speaking recently, in Calabar the Cross River State Capital, Mr. Duke made reference to the need for the Free Trade Zone in Calabar to work effectively in order to encourage commercialisation of local products and the revival of tourism sites across the country.

“If we got Tinapa working, the traffic you see in December will be Year Long, this will be the most sort out destination in the whole of Africa, not West Africa.

“Now you try and envisage if the traffic that came in December is year long, with the amount of resources that we brought into our State, the farmer will make money and grow more food, hotels will make more money, you open a restaurant, you’ll make more money and that’s what it’s all about, the economy will be functional”.

He further said “If we are able to reactivate the Obudu Cattle Ranch, the traffic going between the Northern and the Southern region of the country, people flying across the state, all that will help”.

He maintained that, ”Tourism is so natural to us, it’s not something we have to work hard to achieve, it’s just almost a second nature to us”.

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Nigeria Eclipses South Africa. Ranks First in Africa. By Perestroika

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r Spencer Onuh, the Director, Centre for Satellite Technology Development (CSTD) says Nigeria has been leading in space science and technology in the continent but noted that more needed to be done.

NigeriaSat-X, Built solely by Nigerian Engineers.Onuh said this on Wednesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of the ongoing CSTD’s annual conference in Abuja.

The conference with the theme: “Space Technology In Nigeria: Indigenisation and Collaboration’’ is expected to feature some space experts around the world to deliberate on the way forward for the country in space technology.

According to him, other nations in the region are into space technology but Nigeria’s achievement still “stands it out but we will not rest on our oars”.

“No country has surpassed Nigeria in space science and technology. In the case of South Africa, they have the pre-apartheid apartheid infrastructure in place; that is all they have.

Nigeria is the only member country in Africa that has made contributions to the African resource management in terms of satellite and the only country in Africa that has a member of the Disaster Monitoring Constellation for International Imaging (DMCii) NAN reports that Disaster Monitoring Constellation International Imaging (DMCii) is the company that manages images for the International Charter for Space and Major Disasters. www.cometonigeria.com

It also sells satellite imaging services under contractual agreements. ” Nigeria is the only African country that can boast and has successfully launched five satellites till date. Three of which are still orbiting, two have been de-orbited because they have completed their lifespan,” he said.

Onuh said that the information, data usage might not be going fully to the last person standing, but that did not mean that the nation had not attained the leadership position.

“It is not a leadership that is resting, it is a leadership that that has given us a spring board to move higher in space science and technology,” he said.

On how the nation’s satellite technology can be further enhanced, the director urged government to develop a data policy that would ensure that data images captured by Nigerian satellites were used for the nation’s project.

He said that in any bidding process in the country, only data captured by government owned satellites or private owned ones in the country should be acceptable except when they could not capture the required image.

Onuh said that the Federal Government should assure investors that their investments were secured.

NAN also recalls that former President Olusegun Obasanjo-led government established space development in the country in 1999, while Ghana and Kenya later joined satellite technology nations in Africa.

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HOT ISSUE

Can Culture and Tourism really be the bedrocks of Nigeria’s economy?

By Dr. John Yahaya Osammor There needs to be clearly defined strategy, involving such ministries as, the Internal and External Affairs, Finance, Information, State Security Services, the Ministry of Health and Works and Transport.

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n an earlier publication of this magazine, I wrote about the asset potential of Tourism in Nigeria. Since then, I have taken a critical appraisal of what it means to develop this sector of our economy for the benefit of the country at large. As a frequent visitor of Nigeria in recent years, one can see that efforts are being made here and there to improve the standard of the Airports and also improve capacity of the staff. However, the experience of some of my foreign friends, who are very keen to visit Nigeria, tells a different story.

As I began to meditate and investigate some of the experiences of these friends and colleagues, it became clear that for the tourism business to grow in any Country and in Nigeria, in particular, there needs to be a joined up, global strategy, agreed and decided at the highest level of government. It is not just an industry that would submit to a catch phrase “the Ministry will make Culture and Tourism the bedrocks of our economy” – current Minister of Culture and Tourism. There needs to be clearly defined strategy, involving such ministries as, the Internal and External Affairs, Finance, Information, State Security Services, the Ministry of Health and Works and Transport. All these Ministries should have dedicated departments that will be involved in the development of the Tourism sector of our economy and have clear understanding of their different, but complimenting roles.

Understandably, the Minister for Culture and Tourism should chair meetings, coordinating and appreciating the complimentary, but necessary roles that the other Ministries are playing. The other Ministries must not see themselves as helping a particular Minister 22

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succeed in executing his office.

With such understanding, there will be no squabbles as to which Ministry executes what role. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, for example, under whose remit is Homeland security, should take care of the Consular Departments at our Embassies worldwide; issuing visas to intending visitors, renewing passports for Nigerians in the Diaspora and liaising with the State Security Service where the need arises.

Visa applications and processing should be reviewed in keeping with the desire goal of encouraging Tourists to Come to Nigeria. The process should be practical, sleek, efficient and cost effective. Presently foreign applicants find it cumbersome and comparatively expensive to apply for a visitor’s Visa to Nigeria. Some may argue that Nigerians similarly pay large sums to get an entry Visa to countries in Europe and America.

Be that as it may, our aim is to grow the Tourism sector of our economy not to retaliate. When I first visited South Africa, all I needed to do was – book my Hotel, purchase a return ticket. I did not need to be invited by a resident in South Africa. Similarly, it can be stipulated that a visitor must show evidence of having paid for a return flight; having a minimum disposable income; have booked a hotel accommodation or have the resource to pay for one and sustain oneself for the duration the visitor chooses to stay in Nigeria.

A simple calculation of having say, a million Tourists per year, Come to Nigeria, with a minimum of $500.00 US dollars each, equates to $500 million US dollars foreign currency www.cometonigeria.com

HOT ISSUE

income. Such possibility has a knock on effect on the Hotel industry and allied services. Inevitably, standards will be forced to improve and new jobs will need to be created. With the eyes of the world beaming on Nigeria all other complimenting Ministries would of necessity seat up and shape up and execute their office.

A budget for continued professional development of all levels of staff at our ports of entry would need to be ring-fenced and audited to ensure that it is used for the purposes for which it was set aside. Such training should be mandatory and evidence shown by each staff that they had undergone the prescribed training during their annual or bi-annual appraisal.

The current Nigeria’s Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed, says “the Ministry will make Culture and Tourism the bedrocks of our economy”. If the Governments of Nigeria see Culture and Tourism as an industry to develop, then she must make a critical appraisal of this project, lead zresponsibly from the front and show dedication and dogged commitment to the course. Tourism will create huge employment opportunities for our people whilst opening new business opportunities. We need to wake up and grow up to the jobs it will bring. It can no longer be ‘business as usual’.

Long live Nigeria.

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LUNCH TIME

Banga Soup

by Dr John Yahaya Osammor

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efore I go into discussing this ’Soup’ or preferably ‘Stew’, I want to settle this point once and for all. It is true that in Nigeria we use the term ‘soup’ instead of ‘Stew’ or ‘sauce’, to mean a thick saucy product that is eaten with any form of preferred carbohydrate accompaniment, e.g boiled rice or yam or plantain or a variety of cooked dough, made with Millet, Guinea Corn, milled Maize, Gari (fermented, ground, cassava tubers, which is fried), Pounded Yam or Amala (flour, made from fermented Yam tubers or from Plantains).

Internationally, ‘Soups’ are usually watery and are either sipped or eaten with spoons. The point is that our international friends become confused, when they order a ‘soup’, but are served a ‘Stew’. In this write up, when the word ‘Soup’ is used, I mean ‘Stew’.

So, what is Banga Soup (Abenkwua – in Ghana)? Banga ‘Soup’ is one of the most delicious ‘stews’ that is served mostly in Southern Nigeria. It is made from the pulp of Palm Oil fruits. Traditionally, the Palm Oil fruits are taken out of the complex bunch of the Palm Oil fruit, washed and boiled or steam cooked in a basket or sieve. The fruits are then put in small bowl or mortar, with some warm water (500 to 750 mls) and rubbed together to dislodge the fibrous pulp from the Palm Kernels. When this is done, the hard kernels are taken out and the resultant fluid is sieved to remove the fibres of the Palm fruit. You now have an emulsion, full of goodness! This amber coloured liquid forms the base for the ubiquitous Banga ‘Soup’.

The ‘Soup’ can be made with any protein (Meat, Chicken, Snails or even as Vegetarian dish – using Mushrooms).

The following ingredients help to make a successful Banga ‘Soup’: 8 pieces of Chicken parts; 1 bulb of medium sized Onion, ½ to 1 whole Habenero or Jalapeno pepper, 20g of whole or ground Cray Fish, 3 to 4 seeds of Clove and 1 seeded fruit of Guinea Pepper (Udah).

I also tend to add a small piece of Yam to the sauce pan and boil it together; this is later mashed and used as thickener if seen to be watery.

To enhance flavour, you can also add a few pieces of fleshy, dried smoked fish!

Put the chicken pieces into a sauce pan with some salt (5g); grind all the other ingredients to make a paste.

Add the paste to the chicken in the sauce pan and pour in the amber coloured Palm fruit emulsion into the sauce pan.

Stir in all the ingredients and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes; taste for salt. The Banga ‘Soup’ is ready to serve when you begin to see a sleeve of floating oil on its surface. If seen to be watery (preferred form in Ghana – Abenkwa Sauce), you can thicken by mashing and adding the small piece of Yam. Taste for salt and serve with your choice of carbohydrate. It normally goes down well with Pounded Yam. Enjoy and welcome to Nigeria!

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NEXT ISSUE The next edition of CometoNigeria will be covering the following topics and many more: Hot Issue: Rising to stardom – Nigerian women making big gains in their professions.

Music of Nigeria My Nigeria: Interview with Margaret Rodriguez, Alamogordo, New Mexico Books! Books!! Books!!! Books By Nigerian Writers Top 10 Favourite Budget and Tourists Hotels

ger? g o l el b Trav ouer to y d Sen/articl y : stor ria@

e onigom t e com mail.c g

Made in Nigeria brands working hard to improve the Nigerian Economy Religious Tourism Plus States/City in focus: Tourist sites, hotels, restaurants and nightclubs Other Top Restaurants and Hotels in the country, Featured Sites, Festivals and Resorts Striking photos and many more!

For adverts placement in the next issue of CometoNigeria Magazine, please contact: Neil Peacock, Ekundayo Adeniran or Morgan Okunnuga on +44 (0) 151 922 2911, Email: info@cometonigeria.com If you would like to contribute stories and images, please send your materials to info@cometonigeria.com.

Some of the Previous editions

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RELIGIOUS TOURISM FEATURE STORY

Made in Nigeria Products story by: Ekundayo Adeniran

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economy, but will recline on the saving hands of truly ingenious Nigerians ood news first - and it travels pretty fast with the speed of thought: spread across the rainbow community of talents, from Aba to Lagos, through the reports of the imminent death of Nigeria’s economy have been Port Harcourt to Kaduna and anywhere one looks across the extravagantlygreatly exaggerated. gifted and richly endowed Nigerian nation.

From the doom and gloom of worst-case scenarios from a merry band of cynics The nation, especially the elite, loves to consume in an unconfined merryand naysayers regarding projects for the topsy-turvy Nigerian economy, there go-round-spree which is now turning around to consume the nation, with are now best-case scenarios from homegrown solutions that will not only help the masses bearing the brunt of the squandermania of the past. It’s becoming give the Nigerian economy a shot in the arm but also set it back on the right and colourful costumes. Nigerians like to party , we love tocelebrate; there a matter of the people using their sweet-tooth to dig their own graves and course of soothing is recovery and sustainable development. hardly a day in the ay will pass without one or two two celebrations somewhere somew mortgaging the future of the nation, as bills that can kill future generations As businesswomancountry.

Toyin Adeniran. believesuse in the Buycultural Made in attractions Nigeria But are who we making of our to generate much keep mounting.

Crusade, stated: “Patronising Made Infor Nigeria Products and exporting needed revenues both the government and thesame hosting communities?

This is now being made even more mind-bendingly grave as it is no longer well beyond the borders of Nigeria will help lend all the right spring to the ailing with the once flourishing oil business, due to offshore pressure on the highly Nigerian economy and help it get back to the balls of her feet-ready to perform volatile prices and the unrepentant sabotage of local production by militants beyond-belief feats once again for the good of the nation.” from the highly combustible Niger Delta region, all of which has talked good Truth well told in words and indeed for the saving grace of the convalescing sense to the policy-makers to start thinking outside the barrels by embracing Nigerian economy is strictly out of the hands of unbelievers in the Nigerian 26

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AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME. Quips the redoubtable Victor Hugo of fragrant memory in one of his timeless lines: “There is one thing stronger than all armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come.`` No force on earth can halt ideas as compelling and destiny-transforming as that of the much-postponed Made in Nigerian Goods initiative that now looks enticingly good enough to be given a second wind to soar.

Emergencies have always been necessary to progress. It was darkness which

stuttering economy back on track, and up and running again.

ANYWHERE THERE IS AN ORIGINAL SOUND, IT MAKES A HUNDRED ECHOES. Definiteness of purpose is always the starting-point of all achievement. For when the quest for perfection is perpetual, nothing can ever be out of reach.

The maiden edition of MaIN, which left behind a bee-hive of restorative talking-points for good, was held at the Eko Atlantic City, Victoria Island, Lagos, September cruising to Nigeria’s Independence Day, October 1, 2016.

The transcendental theme of the event got its bearing for now and the future right, with its bang-on resonating cues of ‘Innovate, Connect, Power the Future’ powerful message that helped paint a rosy picture of what the future of the nation’s economic direction should be.

Aptly designed to create opportunities and foster networking, the MaIN Expo, segment of the total package, had on parade over 600 exhibitors comprising global brands and Nigeria’s biggest brands and business on hand to flaunt the stuff they are made of.

MaIN Expo covers over 22 sectors including key thematic areas. They include: food and beverage, auto, healthcare, fashion and beauty, telecommunications, furniture, banking and finance. The Made-In-Nigeria (MaIN) idea stands out as a private sector-driven initiative that seeks to create a platform for the maximum expression of the true Nigerian spirit of creativity, enterprise and resilience among others.

Other priceless ingredients that helped make the event sizzle away to remarkable success, include the MaIN idea, MaIN Agenda, Main Summit and, on a lighter note, the Supremacy Concert. The festival sweetly ended with The Supremacy Concert staged on October 1 which put on show a handful of legends, which Nigeria had all the slice of great fortune to export to the worlds, with names of renown such as King Sunny Ade (KSA), Asa, 2Baba, D’Banj and Wizkid hitting the right pitch.

produced the lamp. It was fog that produced the compass. It was hunger that drove us to exploration. And it took a depression to know the real value of jobs.

It is in the light of this, that the light-at-the-end-of the-tunnel ‘good thinking, good product, make-or-break survival kit’ to help salvage the economy and keep it afloat, thorough the deployment of a raft of creative enterprises, could not have come a moment too soon.

One of such ingenious initiatives that seized the imagination of the nation and the world at large in recent times, turned out to be the MaIN Festival, serving craftily as the acronym for Made In Nigeria Products Festival; a fiesta of all that is best and beautiful in Nigerian goods, products, ideas, fashions, gourmet and culinary delights; entertainment and inimitable icons behind these products, ideas, labels and acts that have helped raise the Nigerian banner aloft right round the world: with world-class products attracting not only unprecedented local patronage, but rave-review global appeal and worldwide welcome. The heart of this intervention initiative, put together by a galaxy of the best and brightest economic nationalists, sought path-finding ways to help get the nation’s www.cometonigeria.com

MaIN Flavours also came to the table of the event to help keep the tastes buds of the guest happy and in new tongues and converts to an exciting variety of culinary delights Nigeria’s got to offer. MaIN Flavours, in the main, involves the display of traditional recipes made in different parts of Nigeria from Nkwobi, to Dodo Ikire, Suya and a host of other traditional recipes.

All to the gastronomic delights of guests and the finest of the nation’s legendary icons, on hand to give the event the right zip, sense and sensibility; with names such as Aliko Dangote, brand-custodian of the world-conquering Dangote brands as an ambassador worth emulating; Ronald Chagoury; Ibukun Awosika, game- changer, and first female Chairperson of First Bank in its more than a century of existence and peerless domination of the Nigerian economy. Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu served as the Chairman of the MaIN Summit.

MADE IN NIGERIAN GOODS, GOOD FOR NIGERIA’S MUCHPOSPTPONED TURNAROUND It may well have been long in coming, but has never been out of short of trying

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the serially-postponed safe basket of Made In Nigerian Products as a creative survival kit.

RELIGIOUS TOURISM FEATURE STORY - the long-postponed need to wean the nation’s obsessional appetite for exotic foreign products and taste en route to taking home comforts in Made In Nigerian Goods, as the efficacious therapy to get Nigeria’s economy back on the path of sustainable growth that will be held hostage by the fatal attraction to foreign goods that have done scarce good for the sense of self-worth of the people.

Nigeria’s got talents and treasure-trove innovative ideas she can sell to the world and be proud of as truly Nigerian world-class products that would command world-wide appeal and welcome.

The fascinating life-enriching products and talents has, through the times, make the Nigerian domestic market tick as a sustaining economic force. In the past, the promotion of proudly Nigerian goods helped grow Nigeria as a flourishing economy before the crude oil, which ousted agriculture and manufacturing from reckoning: both of which used to remarkably serve as the mainstay of the Nigerian economy and sustainable means of livelihoods to millions of the Nigerian people.

There was a time when agriculture reigned supreme as the major foreignexchange earner for the nation, with iconic structures such as the sky-hugging Cocoa House in Ibadan, Liberty Stadium, Western Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation, farm-settlements, and sundry manufacturing concerns growing out of the gains made from agriculture and the then thriving manufacturing entities of that era, such as textile, beverages, helping the economy to tick along productive. This was a self-assured and future-confident era, where Nigeria’s national currency, first as the British Pound, and later, the majestic Naira were at par with all iconic foreign currency of the world, such as the pound sterling and the America dollar, if not stronger than in the foreign exchange market.

Louis Vuitton; WOOLMARK; YVES SAINTLAURENT; DAVID MORIS JEWELS; S.T. Dupont. These are sweeping these connoisseurs of fashion and style signature off their feet at the expense of love for local products.

There is always a penalty for everything and the affluent life always come with an off-limits price.

STREET MARKET TODAY, WORLD MARKET TOMORROW Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow. Thank goodness the narrative of Nigeria may well be changing, one success story after the other, everywhere one looks across disciplines, frontiers, product-lines and ideas and brand-new orientation that is evolving which favours looking inwards for survival and sustainable development away from the orbit of reliance on the now vanishing petro-dollars.

Products in the past that could hardly hit a home-run when they first saw the light of day have been given impressive shelf-esteem-and- importance, displacing foreign imports and becoming money-spinning household names in Nigeria and abroad, earning the nation and their creators massive foreign exchange, once thought inconceivable in the days gone by.

Thanks to the masterstroke of Obasanjo ‘s regime in the course of his triumphal Second Coming as the democratic President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he gave a short shrift for the unquenchable obsession with imports of exotic juice drinks, the likes of which are now having a field day as the folk’s delight in Nigeria and beyond.

It was a stroll in the park for the latter-day convert farmer-leader, developing the keen sense to identify the next opportunity, first having gotten the story behind consumer change from bottled soft drinks to juice-beverage due to health wise

NIGERIA’S GOT TALENTS! BELIEVE AGAIN! ‘Don’t find fault. Find a remedy’ Roadside sign in Kentucky: ‘Pray for good harvest, but keep on hoeing.

Many new ideas have been midwived in the past to redress this most voraciouslyconsuming distortions arising from the people’s ostensible incurable obsession with foreign goods and values, and fantasies.

General Olusegun Obasanjo’s ‘Austerity measures’ and Shehu Shagari’s ‘Green Revolution’, plus General Ibrahim Babangida’s intervention initiatives are just a handful of ways to get Nigerians to embrace common sense and love Madein-Nigeria goods, like never before.

These measures have recorded differing levels of success that has not been as enduring and sustainable as it should have been.

The reason is not too far-fetched: Leaders, dealers of hope, who ought to know the way, show the way, and lead the way, inexplicably faltered in the steps forward as they fail to practice what they preach. Most still have a wanderlust for exotic foreign products and obsession with foreign values, which they chase to offshore to be sure, thereby leaving the people they are supposed to lead in the pursuit of home taste far behind.

The heady scent of success and aphrodisiac of power can be alluringly intoxicating. Leaders and the elite tend to fall in love with designer exotic products at first sight, smell and taste with global brands such as Elizabeth Arden; Ralph Lauren; Mappin & Webb; Nina Ricci; Jean Patou; Eternity; Hanro Trend Collection; Giorgio Armani, Estee Lauder; Christian Dior; Gucci; 28

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considerations and consumer mind -shift in taste, which had started tilting towards foreign exotic products a, across the channels, in this regard.

Brands that took prime advantage, with all the home comforts, it confers on the intrepid producers, including the omnipresent Chivita brands, Dansa from the Dangote House of flavours (Dansa Foods Limited); Frutta; Fumman; These brands, with world-class quality and global appeal, are top of the pile, based on their popularity, appeal, and brand-equity and recall.

The same homegrown animal spirit of capitalism has been unleashed on the quality drinking or table-water business in Nigeria, making it more than first for thirst and most refreshing complement on the table, in the spas, and sports circuits.

Local brands that have found their right levels on a higher plane outside Nigeria as exports to neighboring littoral states and beyond, include such pioneers as Rag Olis; Coca-Cola’s Eva, 7-Ups Aqufina; UAC’s Gossy; SWAN; AQUADANA; ASTRAL, CWAY; AQUAPAC, amongst others that have helped slaked the thirst for foreign products which have always in the past swallowed up the nation’s hard-earned foreign currency due to the hard-toresist, impossible- to -curtail taste for foreign brands such as Perrier; Waiakea Volcanic, Hawaii; Fiji Water; Voss; Evian Spring; Volvic Spring, Frnce; Hildon Mineral, U.K; Icelandic Glacial; Glacial Iceland; Ferrarelle Spring; Italy; Indigi H20, Artesian –Mineral, USA; ACQUA Panna Spring, Italy; Veen Mineral, Finland; Mountain Valley Spring , USA Dasani; Sno Water; Lauquen Artes 10 Thousand BC and so much more that used to placate the exotic placate of the high and mighty in Nigeria.

It’s to the credit of this positive reversal from the dependency syndrome of money-guzzling foreign water imports that the nation has been able to rake in a soothing sum in the neighbourhood of 8 Billion Naira in a stretch of a year from the business well over four years ago, according to Dr. Paul Orhili, former Director General, NAFDAC, at an interactive forum organised by the Lagos Chamber Of Commerce and Industry.

It’s not only juices and water that are doing jolly good on the Made In Nigeria Product plane on the rosier side of life and profit.

Nigeria is also back with a bang, if not with renewed vengeance, on the entertainment scene with its galaxy of the best and brightest icons and acts www.cometonigeria.com

Must then go beyond mere sounding off as the best news for ears in years, following in the tune-steps of the legendary Afro beat originator Fela Anikulapo; fruity-voiced crooner-in-chief, Sade Adu, and King Sunny Ade, good foreign -exchange earners in their melodious days, some new age budding stars have stepped up the plate to become redoubtable world-beaters in their own right, while creating brand-new get up and dance sound-tracks that are turning the world in its ears.

This finest breed of homegrown songbirds with global appeal given the world memorable hits of a lifetime, include the pop legend on the trot, Asa, whose soulful melodies have continued to prove popular with audiences, blowing minds all over, sweeping all off their feet in Africa and across the world.

She’s earned her stripes in an unforgettable manner, sharing the limelight with such global icons as Beyonce; Snoop Dogg and Jon Legend. Her words to the world should cut the ultimate Platinum disc anywhere in the world: “I’m proud to be Nigerian and I also hope other Nigerians feel proud that they have a great country.”

Making further sound affairs, she adds in the prime CNN interview: “People have preconceptions of Nigeria …so for other Nigerians we need to know that we cannot hide, we need to defend, and how do we need, we need to be good at whatever we do.”

The Top-of-the-Chart amongst the Brand Nigeria entertainment ambassadors include such hip-hop stars as Don Jazzy; 2Face Dibia; D’Banj, ‘The Kokomaster’: P-Square; Davido, Yemi Alade, Flavour. They are some of the much-adored musical exports well-made from Nigeria who have wonderfully taken on the mantle in recent times to rave reviews.

Other jewels in the crown of new-age musical accomplishments in Nigeria include Nneka Lucia Egbuna; P-Square; Partoranking; Yemi Alade; Chidima; Ice Prince; Olamide, Tiwa Savage; KCEE; Timaya; Banky W; Whizzkid, Adekunle Gold and so much more.

Tagging along on the buoyant crest of wave on the omnibus entertainment scene of the multi-splendoured Nigerian movie landscape, that goes by the ingeniouslyminted name, Nollywood, an artful crafty twist from its more revered offshore forebear, Hollywood, are a legion of stars that have made our world a happier place to live in. And what an amazing serial-thrillers they are having!

Just like the son is the father of the man, it would seem Nollywood has now famously overtaken its more famous front-runner, Hollywood, in terms of earnings and rate of prodigious production. Last year, according to data released, by an online channel, Fortune, Nollywood is a $3 billion industry.

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from Nollywood (Nigeria’s vintage version of America’s venerable Hollywood) and soar-away irresistible segment making waves at home and abroad.

Before power changed hands in this soul-winning segment, billons of foreign exchange had to go down the drain to worship foreign pop and global idols from the Lands Beyond.

Acts that were up there in the star-lit sky in arresting the ears, minds, souls and dancing feet-of-feats on Nigerians across the aisles-and-ages-include The Rolling Stones; Beyonce; Bob Marley; Michael Jackson; Madonna; Sonya Spence; Anita Ward; Billie Ocean; Bob Dylan; Elvis Priestley; Louis Armstrong; The Beatles; Marvin Gaye; Donna Summer; Ringo Starr; John Lennon; Paul McCarthy; Beyonce; Alicia Keys, Marvin Gaye; Billy Oceans; and so much more.

This glorious list is joined by world-beaters and sizzling sensations such as Beyonce, Drake, Adele, Kanye West, Rihann; Justin Bierbers amongst others ever-rising stars and irresistible divas.

RELIGIOUS FEATURETOURISM STORY It is bigger by far than Hollywood volume-wise, and right behind India’s Bollywood, so resonantly proclaims the data.

And this windfall all started from very humble beginnings, when just in 1992, in Nigeria, an adventurous electronics salesman Kenneth Nnebue shot a straight –to-video movie in one month, on a budget of just $12, 00. Living Bondage sold more than a million copies, mostly by street vendors, and, bang-on, Nollywood –Nigeria’s ever-flourishing movie industry – was born.

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing: for they conquer new frontiers who believe they can.

By 2008, Nollywood had surpassed Hollywood as the world’s second largest movie industry by volume, right behind India’s Bollywood. And in 2014, the buoyed-up Nigeria government released data for the first time showing Nollywood is a 3.3 billion sector, with 1844 movies in far back as 2013 alone.

Earlier this year, Nollywood ace Producer, Kunle Afolayan reached an exclusive Netflix distribution arrangement for his latest iconic film, October 1. This adds to the 10 related titles already on Netflix and the U.S. media company’s recent $12 million movie rights purchase of Nigerian novel Beast of No Nation, to star Idris Elba.

Every fortune has a story, just as well as good old reliable fortune always favours the farsighted, the brave and the ingenious. It is a no brainer to know the right positive course ‘moving’ movies industry will take Nigeria, and her economy, that is waiting for new pulsating force outside the energy of oil to move her to new frontiers.

Many observers and connoisseurs of arts believe that the global reach of African films could take off, soaring to greater heights, led by Video On Demand (VOD) platforms and productions of Nigeria: -the continent’s largest economy and populous nation.

In the unforgettable words of Yewande Sadiku, Nigerian film producer and intrepid financier who put her talent and money where her heart is: “Nollywood’s popularity across Africa and the Diaspora certainly demonstrates the capacity of films to travel.”

As the saying goes, the more of such quality creations that spring forth, the merrier for the artistes; the industry, the nation, the economy and the world at large.

To take the cue from the very authoritative Wikipedia, the popular 2009 thriller The Figurine is generally considered the game-changer, which heightened the media attention towards ‘New Nigerian Cinema’ revolution. The film was a critical and commercial success in Nigeria and it was screened in international film festivals. The 2010 film Ije by Chinneze Anyene overtook The Figurine to become the highest grossing Nigerian film; a record it held for four years, until it was overtaken in 2014 by Half of a Yellow Sun. Credit long overdue, however, eternally goes to the galaxy of daring creators who help make this thriving industry happen for the good, better and best of the nation and her economy that can do with new-ignited creative energies outside the wasting asset of oil.

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Advance to be recognised: Late Amaka Igwe of fragrant memory; Kate Henshaw; Desmond Elliot; ‘Jenifa’ Funke Akindele; Rita Dominic; Oge Okoye; Hafiz Oyetoro(Saka); Eniola Badmus(Gbogbo Big Girls); Ireti Osayemi; Toto Dikeh, Mercy Johnson; Ini Edo; Chika Ike; Stephanie Okereke; Osas Ighodaro; peerless, awe-inspiring, globally-acclaimed Genieve Nnanji; and ageless beauty with gorgeous jaw-dropping presence that has attracted quite a mint to her bank account and net -worth, incomparable Omotola ‘Omo-sexy’ Jalade Ekeinde.

Beyond any flight of fancy and adoration of these idols and divas of screens making their fans happy, just as they also have the great motivating pleasure of laughing all the way to the bank with fortunes unlike any other, are a bevy of other brand-ambassadors flying the Nigerian banner and working their signs and wonders on the image of Nigeria.

In runways right round the world are designers, models, choreographers and art-purveyors strutting their stuff in aisles of global stages where out-of-thisworld are showcased and appreciated with more than serial standing ovation that accompanies each outing and command performances right round the orbit of our planet.

In this regard, remarkable runway models that have made also made their mark as inspirational role models, their charity either starting at home or far away abroad, as the case may be, include such pearls as Eva Alordia; Chidima Ekile; redoubtable ambassador for MTN Nigeria; Adeola Ariyo, Canadian model of Nigerian descent; Damilola Adegbite; Emeka Okuma; Omowunmi Akinnifesi, crowned 2005 Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria Aminat Ayinde; Shirley Bassey; Chinyere Akinlade; Tiwa Savage; Yaya DaCosta; Megalyn Echkunwoke; Sylvia Nduka, 2011 Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria.

These runway idols are following in the iconic footsteps of accomplished dazzlers on the global circuit that have made it their pleasurable business to win plaudits for Nigeria and earn stripes for the Proudly Nigerian brand: This A-List include: Oluchi Onweagba; and the incomparable Agbani Darego, a serial-thriller and winner unlike any other, strutting her stuff like no other.

Coming first has become Agbani Darego’s second nature; Most Beautiful Girl 2001, Miss Universe 2001, Miss World 2001 and Miss World Africa 2001; sharing the global limelight with her in their own unique ways and timeless styles include: Ebinabo Potts-Johnson; Omotu Bissong; Muna; Stephanie Okeke; Adaeze Yobo; Kendra Oluchi-Etufunwa; Sabina Umeh-Akamune; Amanda Mike-Ebeye.

Fashion may be fleeting but style is eternal.

Other serial-thrillers that have hit the runway running and soaring away with tell-tale triumphs, showcasing the true original Nigerian brand anywhere their dreams take them, include: Nneoma Anosike; Chika Emmanuel; Precious John; Amaka Chirah; Isio Wanogho; Zainab Balogun; Nneka Edozie; Bunmi Ademokoya; Warebi Martha; Imade Ogbewi amongst others.

How else can you make a statement without saying a word? Easiest short cut is through what you wear. On this beat, Nigerians have made the cut. And on a higher plane, even conquering the inner chambers of the most powerful

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Be careful what you ask for, you may be condemned to get if for good.

He must be the new-age Nostradamus, Man Who Saw tomorrow-or almost.

The great Master of the Game Himself - the one and only Pele - Edson Arantes Nascimento.

Nigeria may not have come around to winning the real World Cup at the global stage, but it has gone further afield to win a merry string of Under-17 and Under 21 FIFA-organised youth championship, and, well, at the global stage pocketed the Olympics soccer gold, eclipsing the stars of soccer-spinning wizards Brazil and Argentina along the spell-binding way that held the whole world captive.

Nigeria has also captured one silver and a bronze that is as good as gold at the Olympics, making her a redoubtable world-beater in a way!

Christopher Nwosu; Philip Osundo; Dimeji Lawal; Lemi Issa, Wilson Oruma, Sani, Victor Osimhen, kelechi iheanacho; kelechi Nwakili; from China, Scotland through Italy, Japan; South Korea, Nigeria (at home); United Arab Emirates and Canada, Nigeria has never fallen short of twinkling stars that have helped light up the skies and floodlights of major global soccer fiesta.

Pele’ s rosy forecast may not have completely hit the ground running in terms of fulfillment, but the exploits of Nigerian stars holding the world at their feet at diverse arena of global soccer and iconic clubs such as Barcelona, SC Milan; Arsenal, Chelsea and so much more has never ceased to astound the world, while these players have become stellar exports for Nigeria, showcasing all the good Nigeria has got in this field, together with the good mint these stars make in exotic foreign exchange, starring euro, pounds and dollars.

mansion in the world-the White House, where a Nigerian designer, Duro Olowu, happens to be the finicky fingers behind the weaving of magic on some of the designer wears that sits just pretty well on the First Lady Michelle Obama, giving her the Radiance of the Queen of Hearts.

Other designers of Nigerian extraction that have been painting the inner chambers of the high and mighty ‘rainbow’ with their exotic designs that deliver looks that win all looks, include the inimitable Deola Sagoe; Maki Oh; Jewel by Lisa; Folawiyo, Nigeria’s Queen of Print’, who has created a global trend, turning her home-based business into an international women’s wear and accessory range with showrooms in New York City and South Africa. Her flame of fame got its creative root as the first designer to embellish West Africa’s characteristic wax-resistant dyed Ankara textiles with beads, sequins and crystals, making traditional African fashion enticingly young and vibrantly modern.

All of them, without exception, are incurable optimists and brand believers in the all-conquering power of creative ideas. Just as well as they know that no pessimist ever discovers the secret of the stars or sailed in uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit.

Many of these blithe souls have started to sell their brands internationally.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, with many taking the cue from this new frontiers-breaking mode.

And in such an enchantingly stunning manner that variety has become the spice that adds flavour, colour and fervour of life, the repertoire of offerings in vintage Nigerian fabrics has never ceased to amaze as they infectiously excite. Patrons and connoisseurs have never had to contend with or endure any dull moment.

Such spellbinding ranges from Aso-oke, Gbariye, Tie-& Die from South West and the Rich Stripe White and Black A’nger material from Tiv-speaking part of Benue State as well as neighbouring, Idoma’s Red and Black variety, all of www.cometonigeria.com

Legends for all seasons in this field will include the unforgettable hawkish, freescoring in –and-outside-the-box assassin, legendary Rashidi Yekini; and late Big Boss Stephen Keshi all of fragrant memory and other trailblazers such as Peter, ‘the Rock’ Rufai; Uche Okechukwu; Uche Okafor; midfield marauder and ‘head-master’ Mutiu Adepoju; master of the flicks, tricks and kicks, Austin JayJay Okocha; smooth operator, ‘Papilo’, Kanu Nwakwo; Defence Chief Taribo West; Emmanuel Amunike; Victor Ikpebia; Cerezo Austin Eguavoen; and many of gems of this golden generation, all whom have become household names in Nigeria and right across the world.

They are proud natives of their beloved motherland, but respected and adore citizens of the world.

When you now headline all these amazing success stories, well made in Nigeria, with such homegrown giants such as Aliko Dangote, the richest human in Africa and poster-boy of Made-in Nigeria Brand; Mike Adenuga; Oba Otudeko; Ibukun Awosika to mention a few of these game-changers and change-makers, the future forever looks bright for the flourishing of Made-In Nigeria Brands, going forward.

The story of our Made in Nigeria brands isn’t complete if we fail to mention the stellar name of new pretty-poster boy of global heavyweight champion, Anthony Oluwafemi Joshua. May be fighting under the banner of Britain, but he was born of a full-blooded Nigerian parents.

The world steps aside to let them pass who know where they are going.

Long live Made in Nigeria Brands.

Everyone is invited.

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which have been having a field day on the runway right round the world, all epitomising an eloquent celebration of Nigerian fabrics exquisitely cobbled together in chic contemporary designs that takes all breath away.

The positive spin-off effect is that this renewed interest in, and obsession with home-spun fabrics, albeit with a novel twist, in the tale, will ultimately lead to the hitherto garment and textile industry, which have lost their lustre and come unstuck in the scheme of things in recent memory. What a difference a moment of brand-new thinking makes!

Nigerians are standout proud natives of their motherland but respected citizens of the world that can be counted as Africa’s most stylish people. Lagos, the bee-hive hub, has long been known, renowned and celebrated for its vibrant fashion scene, spellbindingly displaying a rich tapestry of colours, cuts: from clean lines to ruffles, florals to metallic and from ornate to patterned. Little wonder sub-Saharan Africa’s largest city is now at the forefront of representing African fashion right around the globe.

RELIGIOUS TOURISM ADVENTURE

COMING TO NIGERIA ……Experience the joy of travelling

Just like the movie staring Eddie Murphy “Coming to America” in REVERSE!! I am COMING TO NIGERIA!

by Pam Sam

I

live in Houston, Texas USA thousands of miles from Nigeria. But, as in many of the cities in the US where there is a university of higher learning, there are Nigerian communities.

Nigeria is quite unique in that there are 1st, 2nd and 3rd generations of Nigerians residing in the USA. No other African country comes close to the quantity of people with direct Nigerian ties. These communities are large enough to support restaurants and grocery stores catering to the Nigerian palate.

So, this is how my journey began. While walking in my neighborhood park, a fellow walker introduced himself. “Hello my name is Christopher” with a huge smile on his face and shook my hand. We walked and talked to make the time pass pleasurably as we exercised. He invited me to come to his home on the next day to meet his wife, Grace.

Oh, what an appropriate name. Dr. Grace Ekpenyong is very gracious, and a joy to be able to call her my friend. Her passion to provide employment for people around her touched my heart. The name for her project ‘Widows Mite’ expresses whatever anyone can contribute to a cause is important, no matter how small you think it is. I also got to meet their son, Emmanuel visiting from school in Ghana at the time.

This family has been my friends for years now. Each time they would come to Houston, they would carve out some time in their busy schedule to spend with me. They are, entertained by the people with ties to the state of Akwa Ibom Nigeria while in Houston, but Grace would personally prepare a Nigerian meal for our dinner when she had the time.

The last time they came to Houston they declared it a true vacation. They came with their daughter Emem while Emmanuel was in London in a graduate program. We spent a lot of time shopping and relaxing together.

While we sat at dinner one afternoon, I suggested that we formulate a festival to showcase their hotel in Akwa Ibom Nigeria http://www.eemjmhotels.com and increase tourism. After conversing with Emmanuel the next day, Christopher called me and agreed that it was a great idea! Then discussions proceeded on the best time to launch the festival and the time needed to promote this event, we decided that 2018 was good. The Ekpenyong family invited me to Nigeria to get a feel of what an American can experience in their home country.

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HERE I COME!! I distinctly remember Grace in a nice instructive manner; tell me that they would write a letter inviting me to Nigeria, saying that they would financially support me while in Nigeria. I was wondering why they would need to do that. I have traveled internationally before without anyone needing to write such a letter for me to enter a country.

She further explained that every country is different in their requirements for entry. I kept quiet, but as soon as I got home I called everyone I knew who has visited Nigeria. I called my niece whose father lives in Nigeria.

She goes to visit him often. She told me that she would get her Visas from the Nigerian Embassy in Atlanta, Georgia USA. She was at work at the time so she could only text me. I tried calling the Nigerian Embassy in Atlanta to speak with someone to no avail. No one answered the telephone. So I called a friend who could talk to me with instructions. My friend Flora told me the process I must go through of mailing a copy of my roundtrip airplane ticket, send 1 recent passport size photo, $30 money order, a letter from a Nigerian with a copy of their Nigerian passport and my US passport, all US Parcel Express mailed to either Atlanta or New York City Nigerian Embassies. While my chin had hit my chest in shock, she informed me of a horror story of a family of five who did this and their passports were lost never to be found.

Their airline tickets forfeited due to not having their passports and Visas. I had to make sure I had heard Flora right. I have to send my actual passport to strangers. I never let this passport out of my possession. I keep it in a locked safe for safekeeping.

I went to my bank to get the $30 money order and I visited with the Nigerian Assistant Manager of Wells Fargo bank, Elizabeth A Fariogun. She and I have talked many times, laughing how I need to get a Nigerian daughter in law. I was telling her about the process to get a Nigerian Visa. She asked me if I had filled the application online yet. When I answered no, she told me to look at it as soon as possible. There are more fees!! I went home and got on the computer.

The online application fee is $180!!!! So that is $30 processing fee plus $180!!!! $210 for the Visa!!! I must mail it with return postage also.

Total postage is $13 US dollars. I had to get 2 passport photos at $15 also. TOTAL $238!!

While online reading the Atlanta embassy’s website, I saw the fees for each country to apply for a visa. I sure am happy that I don’t have a British passport, the British visa www.cometonigeria.com

I finally found the link hidden in a hyperlink.

The link took me to www.innovate1services. com. I wanted to make sure that I understood the instructions. They advertised that I could call 24/7 Monday-Friday. GREAT!! I called and someone answered!! I was expecting a Nigerian accent, but was surprised to hear an Indian accent. While talking to him all I could think about was; Isn’t Nigeria going through high unemployment right now? Why is the government, giving job to non-Nigerians?

The customer service representative held my hand while I filled out the form. I am thankful for that. He then told me that I had to call my card carrier to see if my credit card was visa approved. This I did not understand. I called the carrier and asked that question. They did not understand either. I told them that I was going to charge $180 on my card in a few minutes. I completed filling out the payment field and it did not go through.

I got immediate FRAUD ALERTS to my email address!! I called my card carrier and asked what had happened. I was informed that was a protection for them from that site. I could have the vendor resubmit and they would approve it. I looked at Innovate website again and I saw where I could get my card pre-approved by scanning a copy of my credit card bill and a copy of my driver’s license or passport. I did this then resubmit the payment and it was approved!!!

One week after mailing my package to the Nigerian embassy in Atlanta. I received an email from a processing company named OIS Online Integrated Services out of London England.

Atlanta OIS office 918 Holcomb Bridge Road Suite 204 Roswell, GA 30076 Any further questions please contact us at Tel: 404-695-6373/301-231-7000 Website: www.oisservices.com They stated that as of May 2016 that they handle processing of visa requirements. They stated that I needed to send them a money order in their name for $96.30 in order to process my application. I remember on the Nigerian website to NEVER SEND MONEY ORDERS, that all application fees payments are handled online!! Only a $30 administration and process fee for 5-7 day processing paid by money order was needed.

The very same day that I got the email, someone from OIS called and told me that I must pay additional processing fee to them by money order or they will send my package back to me. I told them that their fee is not on the website and I was warned never to send a money order to anyone at my own peril.

I contacted the embassy by email and in a return email they confirmed that I needed to send OIS in Atlanta a money order for an

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application fee is $472 compared to my $180. I wonder what their processing fee is. What did the British do to get these high fees? I searched the website but could not find how to apply!! It was like a horror movie. When I hit a hyperlink, I would end up back on the same page reading it again.

RELIGIOUS TOURISM ADVENTURE additional $96.30. I went to the post office and bought another money order and express mailed it to OIS. Needless to say, there are approximately 195 countries in the world and in 176 of them my US passport is pretty much all I need to enter.

HOW IN THE WORLD AM I GOING TO ORGANIZE A SUCCESSFUL FESTIVAL IN NIGERIA!!

Tourism, which is a trillion dollar industry is a very competitive business. I immediately emailed my friends in Nigeria and pointed out the constraints in developing a venture that can grow each year. I can do this, but it will be fighting an uphill battle with a lot of weight on our backs. The end question is will I even try.

My degree and profession is Marketing. I have helped many Fortune 500 companies increase their market reach and share. A lot of people confuse Sales with Marketing. Marketing creates demand. Sales supplies demand. If you have not created a market, you have no sales. A perfect example I share with people is the story of creating the market (consumer demand) for toothpaste in the early 1900’s in the US. Dental hygiene was low. People were not brushing their teeth. With more sugar and processed foods being added to their diet, tooth decay was rapid. During WWI, the draft board of soldiers declared the rotten and decayed teeth of the inductees a national disaster. A wise marketer got stock options with a friend who owned Pepsodent (a tooth paste company). He knew sales were low because a market had not been created yet.

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People had not been persuaded that they needed dental hygiene. Yes, their teeth were falling out, but until they decided to seek a new solution no one was buying toothpaste. A lot of research had to be done in the field of dental hygiene by the marketer to see what could be used to persuade the market of consumers with yellow rotting teeth, that they needed toothpaste. I know you are laughing right now because I am. But this is all true.

Within 3 weeks of launching the advertising campaign the demand for Pepsodent toothpaste exploded!! The orders were coming in faster than they could fill them! Within 5 years Pepsodent was one of the best know product in the world. Within 10 years 50% of the American consumers brushed their teeth with toothpaste. Pepsodent commanded over 65% of the market share for over 30 years. He found the clue needed to create advertising campaigns to persuade consumers with rotting yellow teeth that they needed toothpaste. His method of creating demand is now studied and taught in Business Schools across the US. So how many of you have a tube of toothpaste in your homes?

NOW MY RESEARCH ON TOURISM BEGINS. The first step I did was analyzing my own frame of mind and feelings as a tourist. To visit Nigeria for business or a loved one, I would go through the steps now in place needed to go to Nigeria, grumbling all the way.

But as a tourist who has thousands of venues to spend my money, I would be hesitant to go to Nigeria. I am very apprehensive about

letting my US passport out of my sight most definitely sending it through the mail. It was a long process obtaining my US passport and reporting it stolen then replacing it is not an experience I want to go through. I have no fear of my passport being used because it is connected with my identity thief protection with bit.ly/nowprotected. But the time and inconvenience of replacing it would be a major setback. Then I thought as a tourist, going somewhere on a unique adventure where I knew no one. How in the world could I obtain a Visa needing a letter of financial responsibility for me and a copy of a citizen of that country personal passport?

Next, I reflected that I am not as adventurous as some tourists are. I would feel more comfortable traveling to a new foreign country first in a group, like I did when I went to the Bahamas the first time. After that first time in a group, I went twice a year not in a group after that, staying at the Atlantis Resort, visiting a different venue each time. My fear of the unknown was gone. I ventured to a local grocery store with a Bahamian friend assigned me by the tourist outreach center of their Tourism Bureau. I saw a group of men playing a game of dominoes. It felt like family gatherings. I visited Bahamian homes and parties. I found out Bahamians could not gamble in the casinos. LOL! As a protection for them not to lose their money, casinos are off limits. Bahamians are the most hospitable people I know. As a nation they respect the value of a robust tourist industry to their economy. They had TV channels that trained on hospitality and service jobs. So I called friends I knew who might know a group www.cometonigeria.com

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tourist agent and I got introduced to Tiffany of www.SelahTravel.biz. She had just taken a large group of 45 to Greece and was very informative of how behind the scene group travel works. That got me thinking to research if Nigeria had any major group tourist wholesalers working to supply tourist for Nigeria Tourism Industry.

Guided Group Tourism is the beginning and the backbone of tourists overcoming the FEAR of the unknown. Fear of different currencies, fear of safety, fear of safe transportation, fear of foods, fear of safe water, I could go on. Tourism is a people business. Human psychology must be a part of the equation when dealing with people. Fear, curiosity, excitement, enjoyment, pleasure and satisfaction all must be factored in any decision if you want to compete in the $trillion dollar tourist industry.

I LOVE THE INTERNET!! Research is 100 times easier now than before. There is an organization that Nigeria is a founding member of, UNWTO World Tourism Organization. You can research and write a doctorial thesis on the information collected there! The numbers are the numbers. They do not lie. Dr. Obioma B.K. PhD an Associate Professor of Economics of Imo State University Owerri, Nigeria, wrote an article in Reikojournals.org in the December 2013 issue.

TOURISM POTENTIALS AND SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF NIGERIA CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS spells out www.cometonigeria.com

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the great impact that tourism can have on the Nigerian economy. Foreign exchange will be brought in everyday with tourists feeding the hotels, stores, restaurants, transportation, artists, and employment to supply the tourist industry with their needs. He alluded to the fact that tourism can alleviate doubledigit poverty in Nigeria. When you decrease poverty, radicalism is decreased leading to a stable environment and economy that increases tourism. This brings in more foreign exchange. Now you see the circle revolving?

One thing I admire about Nigerians is their drive to be the best at whatever endeavor they pursue. They strive to be the best doctor, lawyer, architect, and mechanic, absolutely everything. That is why I am sitting in shock, when I look at Nigerian tourist statistics, when I look at the statistics on the www.

UNWTO.org website. It is best to GOOGLE search your question then look at that site answer because this website is so full of information. South Africa, Nigeria’s closest economic rival is running circles around Nigeria, laughing all the way. South Africa reports their tourist numbers each year. Here is a site that ranks tourism by arrivals; Index Mundi.

It gets its data from UNWTO.org. http://www.indexmundi.com/facts/indicators/ ST.INT.ARVL/rankings. Make sure you are sitting down when you see the rankings and numbers. When you read the countries that are ahead of Nigeria, the largest economy in Africa, you will be shocked! Nigeria is number 125 of 188 countries that reported their head count of tourists. Rwanda, Cameroon, Sudan (don’t they have unrest there), Senegal, Ghana. The list goes on and on of countries in Africa that SHOULD NOT BE ahead of Nigeria in anything. They are running circles around Nigeria too!! What do these countries have that Nigeria does not?

RELAXED VISA REQUIREMENTS!!

Remember when I told you that the study 36

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of psychology should be included when you want to master the tourism industry, not just the social-economic impact. In this industry you cannot do “tit for tat”. Meaning that other countries may require Nigerians to fill out tedious visa requirements to screen entry into their countries, BUT Nigeria must be shrewd and not imitate this. I know this is asking a lot. Payback feels good. But don’t “cut off your nose to spite your face”. $Trillions of dollars are made every year in this industry.

When you research history, you will see that Nigerian culture demands receiving a higher education to rise up in economic and social status. I had one Nigerian try to shut me down in a discussion, with the explanation that he was a PhD (in anything) so I should respect his opinion above my knowledge and experience. He also made it a point that I should address him as Doctor, while I was employing him as my Realtor.

I smiled because I understood his mental conditioning. I addressed him as Doctor as requested. Of course, I will never employ him as my Realtor again. Nigeria does not have enough schools to fill that demand for higher education in the most populace country in Africa. So its citizens go to other countries to fill their desires to rise to the top of Nigeria social system. Some countries laws of entry are violated when people come as visitors and stay longer that promised. When a pattern is shown, they react to get compliance of their rules. The age-old argument of which came first, the chicken or the egg is pointless when all you want to have is an omelet. When more foreign exchange is added to the economy creating commerce, infrastructure improvements, decreasing poverty, and building a larger middle class, the political system will stabilize and presidents will probably stay until their term limits end. Happy economy equals happy citizens.

The only conclusion I can reach of why Nigerian Visa policy is isolationist…. is Nigeria IS NOT COMPETING for a piece of the $trillion dollar tourism foreign exchange CASH COW! (Can I add any more adjectives?) Nigeria has all of the components to run circles around the whole of Africa combined, including South Africa in those numbers. You may ask why I say this. Nigerians have migrated to major metropolitan areas around the world seeking higher education. In their host countries they are at the top of the middle class due to being highly educated. Tourists are composed of the middle and upper classes. They have business associates, clients and friends who are curious of their home country Nigeria. When these multitudes of people are looking at places to spend a vacation, subconsciously they will think of their business associate, employer, doctor or friend when making a decision if a guided group package tour of Nigeria is included. I have formulated a strategy to expedite that will hasten the aid of the Nigerian Diaspora.

Nigeria has wonderful tourist attractions now and some undeveloped attractions I have found in my research. I am not going to share that with you because I have plans to be a part of developing them.

Nigerian governors are competitive with each other in acquiring an international airport. They will be competitive in improving tourist attractions. Who will be the best? Hotels like my friends the Ekpenjong family facility http://www.eemjmhotels.com in Akwa Ibom, Nigeria, can compete with any luxury hotel across the world. Instead of sending money overseas to increase their returns, Nigerian businessmen and banks will be investing in projects and business ventures in Nigeria to capture the foreign exchange CASH COW coming to them in Nigeria! In a capitalistic monetary system, money goes where it can outrun inflation and increase. www.cometonigeria.com

By relaxing visa requirements, foreign exchange money will come to Nigeria as tourist. Growth in tourism will provide income-producing assets funded by foreign exchange and stabilize the Nigerian economy with constant growth.

Now, let me share one weakness of Nigerians.

There is a phrase we have in the US “I am from Missouri, you have to show me!”

Missouri is a state in the US where the citizens have been given that label.

Everything has to be seen first. They trust nothing that they cannot witness now with their own eyes. It is the ‘SHOW ME STATE’.

Nigerians want to be shown a successful system in place to duplicate. As with any good student, there is a fear of failure.

Nigerians are the best students in the world.

Truly, successful people FAIL THEIR WAY TO SUCCESS. They have no fear of failing.

They will try without a successful guide to go by. A system to increase tourism is not in place in Nigeria now…. and your competitors are not going to assist you to take money from their own mouths. There are a few Nigeria billionaires who became billionaires because they were Visionaries.

They were FIRST in creating a successful system of acquiring money differently. They took a LEAP OF FAITH. Here is a strategy for increasing tourism that

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Remember FEAR of the unknown is a factor in making the decision to visit a country. Guided group packaged tours alleviates those fears to a manageable level.

Once they loose that fear. They will come back and bring friends to re-live the enjoyment, adventure, pleasure, familiarity of places and people of Nigeria. Nigeria wants foreign investors to want to invest in Nigeria.

The investors must see Nigeria first as a tourist. Then fall in love with Nigeria.

I will be in Nigeria visiting the Ekpenjong family, touring Nigerian villages and tourist locations to formulate a marketing strategy in the first two months of 2017. Many Nigerian states have launched great venues to promote tourism in the past, only to see them wither for lack of sustainable tourist participation.

Conquering the Visa hurdle, then actively working with guided group tours wholesalers, is the only way to keep events growing larger each year with printed and word of mouth advertising. Hopefully, if Nigeria aggressively makes these changes, I will be back to Nigeria helping execute strategies with many more trips to come.

Look for me to write more articles in Come to Nigeria publication, sharing my experiences, COMING TO NIGERIA.

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you cannot fail at. The Nigerian government does not need to throw money at the problem for it to go away. The Nigerian government needs to throw improved policies at the problem. Then work with the different players to orchestrate adjustments to the policies to create a smooth running system. There is no reason for Nigeria not to be taking an active leadership role in UNWTO. Keeping their reporting and website links active. It does not have to interfere with the Visa system in place now. If you want a change…you must change. Loosen Visa requirements for guided group packaged tours. Stamp their passports upon entry and give them an entry letter. If the entry letter is lost a fee is charged to replace. Court wholesalers of group tourism packages with price concessions to encourage them to write up and promote packages. Now, Nigerians are very good at this. Nigerians can talk sweetness out of honey. Explain to your citizens what tourism will do for the Nigerian economy at the grass roots levels. Employment will increase and trickle prosperity down and up the whole economy. Advertisements and articles placed in Newspapers, Magazines like this Come To Nigeria that I found for the first time through my research, Television and even positive movies to encourage your citizens to welcome the influx of foreign exchange. Movies done on location highlighting the wonderful tourist attractions in Nigeria is a strategy that France, the #1 tourist country used. When you really look at France being #1 against their disadvantages, French is not the dominant language of the world. The weather is not that great. The hype is all marketing. Nigeria too can formulate and execute a marketing strategy.

ADVENTURE CITY IN FOCUS

SOUNDS AND BEATS OF ONITSHA Anambra State-”Light of the Nation” Stories and Images by Chukwuemeka B. Ikechukwu

ONITSHA -BRIEF HISTORY

W

ith a most recent population of over 561,066. Many historical accounts exist about the origin of Onitsha people. These accounts, based mostly on oral traditions and stories passed on from generations to another, tell us about a migration led by Eze Chima, the founding king of Onitsha around the sixteenth century AD. The differences stem mostly from details of what caused the movement as well as a few facts regarding the origin of the migrants, Ile-Ife in Yoruba heartland or Benin.

All accounts, however, agree on the movement from the Mid-West parts of Nigeria with the predominant version placing Onitsha people in Benin at the time of Oba Esigie. The Yoruba accounts claim that the name Onitsha is a corruption of the Yoruba word, Orisha (a deity seen as an emissary of Olodumare - Yoruba word for God). The full names, Onitsha Ado n’ Idu mark a complete reference to these combined ancestry of Ado (another reference to the Yoruba) and Idu (Benin). The affinity to Benin people is most evident in ancient Onitsha customs and Ndichie titles which have undeniable similarities to what exist in Benin as in names such as Iyasele, Osodi, Osuma, Ozoma, Onira, Osowa, etc.

Aspects of the Benin account suggest that Onitsha people left Benin as a result of strife with Oba Esigie orchestrated by an altercation with the Oba’s mother who had trespassed on farm lands belonging to the Onitshas. The resultant unrest forced Eze Chima, the progenitor of Onitsha to move east with his family and supporters in search of a new homeland.

They travelled for years, founding many settlements along the way. It was in one such place, Obior, that Eze Chima died but some of his children and followers continued, founding other places that make up 38

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the Ezechima clan in the present Delta State of Nigeria. This explains the kinship with IsseleUku, Obamkpa, Onitsha-Ugbo, Onitsha-Olona, Obior, OnitshaUkwu and so on. As a matter of fact, some Onitsha villages like Obior and Obamkpa (Iyiawu and Umuase) owe their names to these places and trace their origins to the clans across the Niger.

The modern day Onitsha, however, has become a metropolis consisting of the descendants of the original immigrants and a mixture of hinterland Igbos, the Igalla people and others attracted by the booming commerce, marriage and those whose ancestors were bonded in servitude. The acculturation that followed has resulted in the mixture of present day customs and in some cases loss of certain ethos and norms.

Some traditional institutions and customs have however survived this corruption, which is why Onitsha kingship remains a revered institution among first class leaders in Nigeria. Other such ancient customs include the Ndichie, traditionally the King’s ministers and warlords. Aspects of Onitsha burial rights and names have also survived the cross cultural influence.

IGWE – OBI OF ONITSHA His Majesty Igwe Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe, Agbogidi, was born on May 14, 1941, to Akunne Anthony Chinwuba, and Chukwuebuka Winifred Ogbenyeanu Achebe. A direct descendant of Ezearoli, through the lineage of Chimedie, Oreze Obi, and Aguzani, Achebe succeeded Igwe Ofala Okagbue in 2002 thus becoming the 21st Obi of Onitsha. He brought hope and a certain charisma to the ancient institution, restablishing the Onitsha monarchy to the ranks of premier traditional leaders in Nigeria. Igwe Achebe’s outstanding education, with degrees from first class US instittutions, Stanford and Columbia, also offer a quality seen by many Onitsha people as worthy of a modern day monarch. www.cometonigeria.com

AJACHI FESTIVAL Ajachi means sacrifice to the gods. This heralds the beginning of Onitsha traditional calendar. It commences at the time of cultivation of crops where every farmer offers prayer to the gods of their shrine in a form of thanksgiving.

The celebration usually involves feasting and merriment, where young boys parade the village square with masquerades that entertain crowds of people with their scintillating dance steps and music.

OWUWAJI FESTIVAL The Owuwaji Festival is the most important festival because it welcomes the beginning of the eating of the new yam. The harvesting of the new yam is usually at its peak and the celebration lasts for about twenty-four days and is performed in turn by different sections of the community, before the Obi of Onitsha. The reason for taking turns for Owuwaji is that when yam first became known for human consumption, it was feared to be poisonous. Therefore, the festival is like a cleansing ritual to avoid any contamination.

Igwe Nnayelugo ALFRED NNAEMEKA ACHEBE

On the fifth day, the Ubulu Na Ikem kindred, the Obi diviners, celebrate the new yam festival. On the following day, they remain in retreat till next day in preparation of Obi’s retreat, which takes place on the seventh day. The obi remains incommunicado for five days, during when he undergoes purification and maintains spiritual contact with his ancestors.

Also, the Ikolobia Ekwensu and Ikpala Ugwu Na Obamkpa perform their ceremonies the same day. The former are men who have achieved great and heroic deeds like killing

PEOPLE AND CULTURE Traditional Onitsha consists of nine villages, otherwise known as Ebo Itenani. These are descendants of the progenitor Umuezechima comprising Isiokwe, Olosi, Umuezearoli, Okebunabo, Obikporo and Ogbeotu which claim origin from Igala in Kogi state, Awada (Ogbeozoma), Obamkpa comprising Umuasele, Iyiawu and Odoje Ndugbe and Odumegwu Gbuagu, Ubulu na Ikem, Ulutu, Ubene, Ogboli Eke, Obior and Ogbeotu. Within these groupings there are six administrative wards namely Okebunabo, Umuezearoli, Ogbeolu, Isiokwe na Ogboli Olosi, Obamkpa and Eke na Ubene.

FESTIVALS IN ONITSHA Onitsha before the independence was basically known for agricultural products production before commerce took over the entire lives of the people.

They are blessed with many festivals like the clearing and tilling of farm festival and the planting, weeding and harvesting festivals popularly known as the new yam festivals.

In Onitsha and Igbo land in general, there are four days in a week and these are: Oye, Afor, Nkwo and Eke. Eke is a farm free day. No one goes to the farm and it is on this day that people will pay courtesy visits to friends or go to social functions. Also, on this day, members of the community are invited to assist in erecting huts or repairing old ones by their kit and kin. The women use this day to go to the market to sell their goods.

UMATO FESTIVAL This festival takes place during the harvest of fruits, maize and vegetables. The main feature of the festival is Nni-oka (pap or corn and cassava flour meal). Goats and fowls are offered to the gods and the ancestors.

Prayers are then said for the good and prosperity of individuals and the community. During the festival, new dances are dĂŠbuted in the wvillage square for the entertainment of eager spectators. The festival lasts for sixteen days, beginning with the executive celebration by the Obi of Onitsha for a day, after which the celebration by the populace www.cometonigeria.com

His Excellency

WILLIE OBIANO Governor of Anambra State

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takes place. The last day of the celebration is called Ikpo ko Akwukwo Ogili that is the clearing of the vegetables plates.

INADVENTURE DIASPORA CITY IN FOCUS

a person during war or killing fierce animals like leopard, hippopotamus, buffalo, lion etc. during hunting expeditions.

THE OFALA FESTIVAL The Ofala Festival is an impressive public outing of the Obi before his subjects. This marks the end of all Onitsha festivals for the year. On this day, the Obi presents himself to his people and exchanges greetings with them. A visit to Onitsha town during any of these festivals will provide you the opportunity to witness one of the best festivals in Igbo land.

Onitsha lies at a major east-west crossing point of the Niger River, and occupies the northernmost point of the river regularly navigable by large vessels. These factors have historically made Onitsha a major centre for trade between the coastal regions and the north, as well as between eastern and western Nigeria. Onitsha possesses one of the very few road bridge crossings of the mile-wide Niger River and plans are in place to add a second bridge near it.

WEATHER In Onitsha, it mostly rains from March to September, it is dry from October to February. The average day time temperature is 27 degrees and the night time temperature is 19 degrees.

SAFETY/SECURITY -Onitsha is generally a safe location.

ONITSHA DISTRICTS/AREAS Okebunabo, Umuezearoli, Ogbeolu, Isiokwe na Ogboli Olosi, Obamkpa and Eke na Ubene.

GETTING TO ONITSHA You have 4 ways to get to Onitsha from different locations.

BY AIR - To travel to Onitsha by air, passengers would first travel to Asaba or Enugu or Port Harcourt, where there are airports before completing the rest of the journey by road to Onitsha. The quickest way is still to fly which takes 1½ hours.

WATERWAYS -It is still possible to travel along the Niger river by boat or smaller ships but in future it hoped that luxury cruise ships will be taking passengers directly from Lagos to Onitsha and further to the northern part of the country.

BY ROAD -The cheapest way to travel to Onitsha is by bus, especially luxurious ones. The distance from Lagos to Onitsha is 380 kilometers and distance from Onitsha to Abuja is 331 kilometers.

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BY RAIL -Currently it is longer to travel by rail to Onitsha as travellers from Lagos, for instance, will first travel by rail to Kaduna and change over to join a train going to Port Harcourt and then do the rest journey by road. In the future, it will come to reality as Onitsha will benefit from the new railway project from Lagos to Calabar.

GETTING AROUND IN ONITSHA. You can get around Onitsha by taxi, by light minibuses and the popular okada and tricycles.

WHAT TO BRING: Before heading to Onitsha Palace, here are some helpful things to take www.cometonigeria.com

WHERE TO GO, THINGS TO DO AND WHAT TO SEE IN ONITSHA Some of the things you can do while you are in Onitsha: Pay homage to the King.

Visit and walk around the palace and view its arts and beauty.

Celebrate festivals with the locals but generally, the listed below are possibilities: 1 RIVER NIGER BRIDGE, The River Niger Bridge was one of the landmark achievements of the first civilian government of late Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa before political upheavals interrupted Nigeria’s first republic in 1966, six clear years after she gained her political independence from Britain. Between 1964 and 1965, French construction giant, Dumez, constructed it at the cost of 5 million pounds, to link Onitsha and Asaba in presentday Anambra and Delta States respectively. Thus, it became a gateway to what is politically referred to as the present south-east and parts of present-day south-south up to the south-west states. Decades later, steady increase in human traffic on the bridge due to increase in population coupled with an upswing of socio-economic activities and urbanization led to increased human and vehicular traffic on the bridge, thus causing frightening wear and tear on the critical infrastructure.

2. OBI OF ONITSHA PALACE The Obi’s palace is one of the tourists attractions in Onitsha. Built over a very large expanse of land, in Onitsha, Anambra state, the palace is in

of art, the Obi has spared no expense in making the palace an interesting gallery of sorts with statures of past Obis dotting the palace, artworks of cultural importance displayed about, and the palace staff easily recognizable with their garb.

ONITSHA MALL Onitsha Mall is located at Park Street, Onitsha G.R.A, Onitsha, Offering an option for every taste and budget, from luxury international brands to local retail stores, this is the largest formal retail shopping center in Onitsha and one of the most iconic malls in South East Nigeria.

Featuring 52 inline stores set on 12,100 square meters of net lettable space and the presence of the hugely popular retailer ShopRite, the mall is a well-known spot in Onitsha. Shoppers enjoy a serene shopping experience with stable electricity and security, 500 parking bays and other first-rate amenities. An enticing food selection is also available at the food court, which includes six local and international restaurants serving both African and continental dishes. The Mall is opened to anyone.

Contact: Phone Number: 08077120477.

Email Address: info@onitshamall.com, Transportation: By car and motorbike, Opening Hours: 08:00 am to 09:00 pm daily.

3 ONITSHA INLAND PORT The Federal Government is currently working to redevelop the inland port of Onitsha and also working on establishing one in Enugu, Aba, Maiduguri, Bauchi and other land-locked states in the country to help accelerate commerce and industry.

The resolutions of the Senate were sequel to a motion sponsored by Senator Stella Oduah (PDP, Anambra North) entitled Need for the Establishment of Dry and Inland Ports at Onitsha, Enugu and other land-locked states.

In her presentation, Senator Oduah explained that the development of dry ports and inland water transport in the land-locked areas would facilitate commercial and industrial activities in exportation and importation of raw materials and equipment. According to her, the existing ports in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Calabar were being over stretched, contending that congestion of these ports constituted serious security threat to lives and properties.

4 ONITSHA MAIN MARKET The Onitsha Main Market is no doubt a world of its own. Nothing could be prompt enough to define the market believed to be the largest place of buying and selling in the West African sub region. Call it a city of aquatic splendor or the ocean of business or even the Biblical Canaan land, then you are not far from the truth.

Whichever description ascribed to the market, the point is that the market often refered as Otu Nkwo by natives remain the pride of Onitsha Ado, the commercial nerve center east of the Niger.

For decades the Onitsha main market has not only continued to accommodate the influx of people as traders into the commercial city, but also remains a sanctuary of life progress where people have the opportunity to rise from nobody to somebody and from puppets to millionaires. In most cases young boys who moved into the market empty handed as apprentice turned out to be millionaires after some years.

Onitsha main market is a happening point of business with immeasurable structures and overwhelming population of traders.

Clustered by the great River Niger, other sub markets and gigantic plazas, the market is expanding in size day by day as traders take every available opportunity to erect big and small structures to expand their businesses.

every sense of the word, a ‘palace’. A world class and modern palace.

The Obi of Onitsha is the traditional leader of Onitsha, Anambra State, southeast Nigeria. The throne of the Obi of Onitsha, seated by Igwe Wilfred Achebe, is one of the most respected seats of power in Nigeria.

The palace is situated at Awka Road, Inland Town, Onitsha.

This is the residence of the traditional ruler and head of the Onitsha Kingdom. Also called ‘Ime Obi’, it is the site for a lot of festivals and events and a major tourist attraction of the state.

Located on a large expanse of land easily accessible, its architectural beauty is still a pride of the Kingdom. There is a large outdoor space where people gather during festivals to celebrate with the Obi. A lover www.cometonigeria.com

THE CATHEDRAL BASILICA OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY ONITSHA This is a Roman Catholic cathedral and minor basilica dedicated to the Trinity and is situated in Onitsha. It was the first basilica in Nigeria.

This building was completed in the year 1935. The cathedral was consecrated in December 5, 1960, it was decreed a basilica on May 28, 2007 and basilica erected March 8, 2008. The basilica is the seat of the archidiose of Onitsha. It contains the relies of Blessed Cyprian Iwene Tansi as well as the tombs of Bishop Joseph Shananhan, Archbishops Charlse Heerey and Steven Ezeanya.

DENNIS MEMORIAL GRAMMAR SCHOOL (1925; ANGLICAN) This school was founded by Church Missionary Society of the Anglican Church of the Niger in the year 1925 (January 25th). This school was

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along with you: Camera to capture the sights and take selfies with local guide to help you navigate the Do’s and Don’t’s in Onitsha.

ART ADVENTURE CITY IN FOCUS

supposed to be sited in Owerri but eventually Archdeacon Thomas John Dennis who translated the Bible to Igbo language decided to plant it in Onitsha. He died on the sea but the Bible didn’t sink. The school is known for academic excellence and discipline. It kicked off with 19 borders and 46 day students with Emmanuel Ekeocha as the first student and Rev. F.A. Tailor as the first Principal. This school produced the first Igbo civil engineer WILFRED NBAONU, the first Nigerian professor of history, mathematics, pharmacology and first Nigerian principal, vice chancellor also the first Nigerian gold medalist, Emmanuel Ifeajuna.

CHRIST THE KING COLLEGE ONITSHA Popularly known as CKC Onitsha or Amaka boys was founded by Irish missionaries on February 2, 1933. It was led by Archbishop Charles Heerey for the intellectual and personal growth of male youths within the context of well rounded liberal arts education in a Catholic environment. This school was adversely affected by the civil war that damaged most of the infrastructures.

It was renamed Heerey High School after the founder in 1973 when the east central government took over the management. In 1976 the name was returned back to Christ the King College and in January 1 2009 the school was finally returned to the Catholic mission by the state government.

WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK 1. Fact Restaurant 2. Dora Restaurant 3. Chiwendu Nwoke Restaurants 4. Busy Bee Restaurant 5. Daily Reach Food and Restaurant 6. Noska Garden Beer Palour 7. Stanless Quality Salad Centre 8. Tiwa N Tiwa Kitchen of Glory 86/87, Aguata Street, Army Barrack, Onitsha, Onitsha North, Anambra, Nigeria 9. Amen Ridge Inn 10. Sea Breeze Gardens Tgr Restaurant 10 ,Ideato Street, Awada Layout, Obosi, Idemili North, Anambra, Nigeria Five Star Foods And Restaurant, Ridge Rd, Onitsha, Nigeria China Plaza Onitsha, Sokoto Road, Onitsha WHERE TO STAY Dolly Hills Hotel: Dolly Hills Hotel since the inception has established a reputation for redefining the paradigm of luxury and excellence in service.

The hotel houses an outdoor pool where guests can enjoy swimming

ARTS IN ONITSHA Igbo-Ukwu bronzes Onitsha occupies important position in Igbo land and with so many artists of international standard coming from Onitsha, there could a link with the Igbo-Ukwu bronzes that amazed the world with a very high level of technical and artistic proficiency and sophistication which was at the time distinctly more advanced than bronze casting in Europe.

However, research and isotope analysis has established that the source of the metals is of local origin and radio carbon dating has confirmed a 9th-century date, long before the earliest contact with Europe.

Ogbunike Caves Located on the outskirts of the town behind the undulating Ogba hills, 10km from Onitsha, are the caves referred to as ‘Ogba Ogbunike’; cocooned in a valley with tropical rain forest and buffered by 20 hectares of lush vegetation.

The caves which sit on two levels, the lower of which leads to an underground river, are a network of about ten tunnels, sandstone chambers, and streams each one with its own rich history and traditional stories all narrated by tour guides during visits. Visitors are advised to carry along a torch and light water proof covering.

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ON A TRIP ADVENTURE CITY IN FOCUS

sessions, as well as a gym where guests can work out under the guidance of trained instructors. A tennis court is also housed onsite. On select days, entertaining troupes perform onsite.

The hotel is committed to meeting and exceeding the expectations of guests through dedication to every aspect of service. Dolly Hills Hotel is a budget hotel in Onitsha. The hotel provides onsite parking space, Restaurant, Wireless Internet, 24 Electricity, Lawn Tennis court and the premises is guarded by security personnel.

Contact: Dolly Hills Hotel Limited, 3 Dr Lady Ngozi Agbasimalo Road, Trans-Nkisi, Onitsha.

KOOBAMO SUITES AND SPA Koobamo Suites & Spa is the right place for you to spend your vacation, you may be with your family or alone. We offer great services and make sure that during your stay here, you get efficient service that is of equivalent worth to your money. Our hotel features guestrooms, dining halls, a bar, a meeting hall and many other amenities.

We technically provide you with whatever facilities a standard hotel would. Contact: Koobamo Suites and Spa, Nkisi Close, Niger Drive End, Fegge, Onitsha.

ONITSHA HOLIDAY RESORT Located in Onitsha-Asaba Expressway. Each room has air conditioning, TV and an ensuite bathroom. The hotel has security personnel who watch the premises, round the clock room service and ample parking space. A bar and lounge is available where alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks can be ordered and enjoyed. Onitsha Holiday Resort Hotel is in proximity to Asaba-Onitsha Express-way. Contact: Onitsha Holiday Resort Hotels Ltd, Onitsha-Asaba Expressway, opp.

Housing Estate, P.O. Box 1511, Onitsha, Anambra, Nigeria.

PARADISE REGAINED HOTEL AND SUITES Paradise Regained Hotels and Suites is situated in Ogidi, Anambra State.

The pocket friendly hotel boast of on site restaurant, an outdoor pool and fitness centre. The rooms are fitted with flat screen TVs, air conditioning, tiled floors, fridges and en suite bathrooms.

Meals are served at the onsite restaurant, while guests can relax at the lounge and enjoy drinks from the bar. During leisure hours, guests may engage in swimming sessions or workout sessions at the gym. The hotel and suites offer laundry and car hire service at a surcharge. Event facilities are available, while room service can also be arranged on request.

Onsite parking space is provided and the facility is guarded by security personnel. Saint Peter’s Church Ogidi is in close proximity to Paradise Regained Hotels and Suites in Ogidi. Contact: Paradise Regained Hotel And Suites, PMB 312, Nwele-Ogidi, Onitsha TOP RANK HOTEL, ONITSHA Top Rank Hotel, Onitsha is situated on Zik Avenue in Fegge, Onitsha.

The pocket-friendly hotel boasts an event center and a swimming pool.

Each room is fitted with air conditioning, floor tiles, a television and an en-suite bathroom. The restaurant serves a variety of meals and the bar both soft and alcoholic drinks. Outdoor dining is available. The outdoor www.cometonigeria.com

pool is open to all guests interested in swimming sessions. Laundry service attracts additional charges. Room service and onsite parking are available. Top Rank Hotel, Onitsha is in proximity to Creek road.

Contact: Top Rank Hotel, Onitsha, 75/76 Zik Avenue, Fegge, Onitsha.

Kate Suites The hotel has air conditioned rooms with bedside drawers, TVs, worktables, fridges and en suite bathrooms. The hotel has a billiards table on which guests enjoy snooker games. Room service can be arranged on request. Kate Suites Hotel has onsite parking and security personnel guard the premise.

Contact: GRA Phase 1, close to Holy Trinity Cathedral, Onitsha.

Kate Suites and Hotel is 6-minute drive from Holy Trinity Cathedral.

House 135 & Breakfast House 135 & Breakfast is situated off Port Harcourt Road in Onitsha, Anambra State. The facility boasts a multipurpose hall.

Rooms in the facility are air conditioned and feature TVs, tiled flooring and en suite bathrooms. Breakfast is served daily. The onsite restaurant provides other meals in menu options and the onsite bar serves an assortment of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Car-hire service is offered guests upon request. The premises has onsite parking space and are monitored by on-guard security personnel.

Contact: 135 Port Harcourt Road, Fegge, Onitsha.

House 135 & Breakfast is situated in close proximity to Ugborimili Primary School and the Premier Breweries Factory.

Chimanda Hotel Chimanda Hotel boasts a bar and restaurant. The rooms are fully air conditioned and have TVs, tiled flooring and en suite bathrooms.

Contact: Nkpor Uno, Isinguru Road, Onitsha, Nigeria

ROYAL GARDEN HOTEL

The hotel offers affordable and comfortable accommodation to business and leisure travellers in the region. Royal Garden Hotel offers 11 rooms fitted with en suite showers, televisions with satellite television access, air conditioning and refrigerators.

The hotel has a lounge area and a bar. There are onsite parking facilities and the premises are guarded by security personnel round the clock.

Breakfast is available daily. The hotel features a live band, which entertains guests on select days.

Contact: 6, Rock Foundation Close, GRA, GRA Phase 1, Onitsha Other hotels in the city are: Orbit Hotel and Suites, Bolingo Hotel, De Lumen Suites and many more.

NOTABLE PEOPLE FROM ONITSHA The Onitsha people were among the first Igbos to embrace western education, producing notable people like: Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Owele of Onitsha, Zik of Africa, and the first president of the post independent Nigeria.

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ADVENTURE CITY IN FOCUS Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe, (16 November 1904 – 11 May 1996), usually referred to as Nnamdi Azikiwe or Zik, was one of the leading figures of modern Nigerian nationalism. He served as the second and last Governor-General of Nigeria from 1960 to 1963 and the first President of Nigeria from 1963 to 1966, holding the presidency throughout the Nigerian First Republic. Born in Zungeru, in present-day Niger State to an Igbo parents from Onitsha, Azikiwe learned to speak Hausa, the main indigenous language of the Northern Region at an early age. He later lived in Onitsha, where he was raised by his aunt and grandmother and learned the Igbo language. A sojourn in Lagos exposed him to the Yoruba language and he was in college, he had been exposed to different Nigerian cultures. Motivated to get a university education, he traveled to U.S. and attended various colleges including Storer College, Columbia University and Howard returning to Africa in 1934 to start work as a journalist in the Gold Coast. In British West Africa, Azikiwe was an important advocate of Nigerian and African nationalism, first as a journalist and later as political leader.

Uzo Egonu (25 December 1931–14 August 1996) was an artist born in Onitsha who settled in Britain in the 1940s, only once returning to his homeland for two days in the 1970s, although he remained concerned with African political struggles. According to Rasheed Araeen, Egonu was “perhaps the first person from Africa, Asia or the Caribbean to come to Britain after the second World War with the sole intention of becoming an artist”.

According to critic Molara Wood, “Egonu’s work merged European and Igbo traditions but more significantly, placed Africa as the touchstone of modernism. In combining the visual languages of Western and African art, he helped redefine the boundaries of modernism, thereby challenging the European myth of the naive, primitive African artist.”

Odinigwe Benedict Chukwukadibia Enwonwu (14 July 1917 – 5 February 1994) Born a twin on 14 July 1917 into the noble family of Umueze-Aroli in Onitsha, better known as Ben Enwonwu was a Nigerian painter and sculptor. He is one of the pioneers whose career opened the way for the postcolonial proliferation and increased visibility of modern African art. His work has been exhibited around the world.

Kingdom at a time when it was extremely rare to have a person of his ethnic persuasion pursuing higher education, much less professional training at the bar. He was an extremely intelligent, disciplined and diligent man who applied himself with single-minded dedication to his profession.

He remained in Biafra till the very end, after the Biafran leader fled, leaving Sir Louis and Major-General Phillip Effiong to effectively take the noble step of ending the war, the surrender being effectively signed

by Major-General Phillip Effiong.

Mbanefo was a towering intellectual whose contribution to International Law via the South-Western African cases showed that his professional intellect was at par with the best in the world.

Ukpabi Asika, controversial politician Asika was born in Onitsha on 28 June 1936. His father was Edward Obiozo Asika of the Ijelekpe Dynasty in Ogbeoza Village, Onitsha. He was educated as St. Patrick’s College, Calabar, Edo College and University College, now the University of Ibadan. He worked as Clerk of Onitsha Town Council (1953), Clerk in the Department of Marketing and Export, Lagos, Clerk at the Northern Nigeria Marketing Board, Kano. Asika studied at the University of California in the USA from 1956 to 1965 and then became a Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Ibadan between 1965 and 1967. He was an erudite scholar.

He was Administrator of East Central State, during the military regime of General Yakubu Gowon, appointed when his predecessor, the Eastern Region governor Chkwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, led the Biafran state into secession.

There are many other notable people from Onitsha amongst them are: • Chike Obi, mathematician • Ebele Okoye, painter and animator • Onyedika Chuke, sculptor • Olisa Agbakoba, lawyer and human rights activist

Sir Louis Nwachukwu Mbanefo (13 May 1911 – 28 March 1977) is noted as the first lawyer from the east of Nigeria. He was born in Onitsha, Eastern Nigeria, and obtained his education in the United 44

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FAMOUS FISRT

Famous firsts in Nigeria A GOLDEN JUBILEE AND TRIBUTE FOR

FLORA NWAPA:

A PIONEER OF AFRICAN WOMEN LITERATURE

F

lorence Nwanzuruahu Nkiru Nwapa (1931-1993) was the first internationally published African woman novelist and the first female publisher in Africa.

She was born in Oguta, Imo State, Nigeria and was educated in Nigeria and Scotland; she held positions at Queens College, Enugu.

She was a lecturer at University of Lagos and a Professor of English at the University of Maiduguri, and served as education officer at Calabar, Cross River State. She was amongst the first female Commissioners as she served as the Commissioner for Health and Social Welfare of the then defunct East Central State at Enugu, (1970-1971).

She has authored numerous novels including Efuru, (1966) Idu, This is Lagos, Women are Different, One is enough, and The Lake Goddess, as well as multiple plays and children’s books. She founded Tana Press at Enugu and promoted literacy in Nigeria and African contents in African children’s books. She was a life-long advocate for women’s rights and goals. Flora Nwapa passed away in Enugu in 1993 after visiting the USA where her oeuvre had been celebrated at the African Studies Association meeting and where she had promoted her last novel, The Lake Goddess.

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of her first published novel, Efuru. As part of the celebration of the event, a series of city tours were organised in Lagos, Maiduguri, Abuja, Enugu, Owerri and Oguta in her hometown. The selections of centres were in recognition of her contributions to the academic developments of the areas.

“Efuru” is a 1966 novel set in the patriarchal Ibo society of South Eastern Nigeria. Like other African societies of the time, Efuru establishes the fact that the political, economic and social lives of the people were governed by tradition, customs and social conventions.

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By looking at her novels which include in addition to Efuru, Idu (1970), Never Again (1975), One is Enough (1981), and Women are Different (1986), one can see that Nwapa is a writer who dedicated her efforts to discuss women’s issues of struggle, quest for independence and success in their native patriarchal Igbo culture.

Nwapa’s second novel, Idu (1970), was also a story about a woman, whose life is bound up with that of her husband. When he dies, she choices to seek him out in the land of dead rather than live without him or prefer motherhood to anything else. The critical reception was mainly hostile. Eustace Palmer in African Literature Today and Eldred Jones in The Journal of Commonwealth Literature compared it with Elechi Amadi’s The Concubine (1966). The war novel, Never Again (1975), drew its material from the Nigerian Civil War. The protagonist, Kate, who starts as a supporter of the Biafran cause, ends struggling simply to survive. Wives at War, and Other Stories (1980) dealt with the Biafran conflict.

Nwapa wrote short stories, poetry and children’s books, such as Mummywater (1979), which brought to life a water deity – the water goddess Ogbuide or Uhamiri appeared also in her adult fiction; Mummywater was her westernized Igbo counterpart. A central theme in her fiction was childlessness, from her early novels to Women Are Different (1986), in which her four major female characters choose between such options as self actualization in their career and the marriage institution, life in the town and in the country.

Fifty years after the publication of Efuru, the novel remains relevant in our social discourse. It shows to the world the woman’s responsibility in an ideal African traditional society without breaking away from the laid out traditions

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FAMOUS FIRST

OTUNBA AYORA BOLAJOKO ADUKE KUFORIJI-OLUBI - a woman of many firsts

A

n economist, chartered accountant, banker, chartered secretary and an environmentalist, who was noted for her many first achievements, which has for decades made her a shinning figure not only in Nigeria but on the entire African continent. Otunba Ayora Bolajoko Aduke Kuforiji-Olubi was no doubt a successful entrepreneur and administrator. Her childhood experiences built up in her a resilient spirit and passion for hard work, that transformed into enviable strings of successes.

Otunba Kuforiji-Olubi was born September 28, 1936. She began her career as a Grade two Teacher at Zawan Girls Catholic Primary School, Jos, where she rose to be headmistress at the age of 19.

She left her teaching job and proceeded to the University of London where she did her A Levels and also graduated with a degree in Economics in 1963. In 1964, she became a fellow of the British Chartered Institute of Company Secretaries, ACIS. She later studied Accountancy, and in 1977 she became the first Nigerian female graduate of Chartered Accountant of England and Wales, as well as that of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria-ICAN. She became a fellow of Institute of Charted Accountants, England and Wales in 1977 and ICAN in 1976.

She was also a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Management FMIN 1985 and British Institute of Directors.

Thus, immediately after her degree in accountancy, she entered into the banking profession and scaling through the ladder to the top of the profession, a feat which made her the first female chairman of a leading financial Institution, United Bank for Africa Plc in 1984.

Being a woman of many firsts, Kuforiji Olubi later became the first Nigerian woman to be CEO of a multinational company, VYB Industries Limited and the first female Chairman of a public company quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Bewac Plc. Serving on the board of the National Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER) from 1980 to 1983, she became the first woman to preside over the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) when she was appointed its 25th President from 1989 to 1990. While she was in the office she introduced the Accounting Technicians Course.

As a woman of many firsts, diligence, hard work, being true to herself, holding-on to her dreams, never letting herself be discouraged as well as trusting in God are the traits that have made her attain great heights.

“These traits are very important and necessary for any man or woman who wants to get on in life. You don’t let anybody derail your boat! Stay focused, and if you know you’re going on a wrong path, try as much as possible to make sure you’re back on course. Listen to advice from elders because nobody knows it all,” she once said in an interview.

Chairing and serving on the boards of many other companies, the Otunba was the first chairman of Ogun, Osun River Basin Development between 1976 and 1980. She was a member of the governing council of the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER) from 1981 to 1983.

She was also the Vice chairman of the National conference on Nigerian foreign policy from 1990 to 2000, and a member of the National Sport commission from1986 to 1989. She was a foundation member and chairman, Lagos State Education endowment fund (1988–1999).

Otunba Ayora was a deputy chairman & Hon. Federal commissioner for Ogun state at the revenue mobilization. In 1993, she was appointed Minister of Commerce and Tourism in the Interim National Government headed by Chief Ernest Shonekan.

Apart from her enviable role in the financial sector, she has a lot of publications to her credit. Her publications included: • The Female Entrepreneur and Financial Management for Survival 1987 • Civil service reform in a Developing Economy 1988.

• The Corporate Woman, a marginalised group, problem and Strategies www.cometonigeria.com

for success, vide public enlightenment programme of the institute of Directors 1989.

• Technical education as a catalyst for technical cooperation and Economic growth in developing Countries 1992 and co-author of Changing Course.

Otunba Ayora was a chairman of many companies, SPHINX GROUP, PHOENIX TIDE Offshore Nigeria Limited and Phoenix Ocean Line Limited.

She held various chieftaincy titles from various geo-political zones in Nigeria which include the Otunba Ayora of Ijebu-Ode and the AhanejiAgamba 1 of Isu-Nkwere (meaning the name that goes to places or opens doors), Asiwaju Iyalode of Ibadanland, Suada of Egba, IgbokodoOkeona, Lika of Ikija.

She was also honoured in Efik as Adaidake-Egburutu, one of the highest chieftaincy titles that can be given to anyone in that region. She was conferred with the award of Order of the Niger (OON) in 2002.

She originally married Soji Kuforiji whom she bore three children for.

She later met and married Chief Daniel Adeyanju Olubi and became known as Chief Mrs. Bola Kuforiji-Olubi.

Her tenet is to make a difference, and she particularly strive to make a difference in any organisation or situation she find herself because it is important for her to leave a legacy of achievement and excellence.

Being concerned about the well-being of women and children, KuforiOluji established a foundation called Ayora Trust Foundation which is a multi-faceted foundation for education, religion, arts, mediation and various charitable works with her children as trustees.

In an effort to strengthen the presence of Nigerian women in business, Dr. Olubi helped found the Society of Women Accountants of Nigeria.

She has also represented Nigeria on many international forums: between 1990 and1999, she was Nigeria’s representative on the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and in 2003, she was an Honorary Ambassador of the United Nations Development Fund for Women.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo once described her life as “a shinning example of the rich dividends available to those who persevere in the pursuit of their dreams and are willing to pay the price of diligence, hard work and determination”.

She was also “a role model to Nigerian youths, especially girls and young women who desire to make something worthwhile of their lives”.

To former Head of the defunct Interim National Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan, “she was an epitome of hard work, diligence and a natural leader.

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WEBPRENEURSHIP

nigerian Webpreneurs

st Sugge an i r a Nigeor send e t i s web urs to yo igeria@ on comet .com a m g il

A few years ago, some writers said Nigeria was lost in Cyberspace, because no worthy websites were found in the country. But today, Nigerians presence on the Internet is overwhelming. Not for the wrong reason though, the majority of today Nigerians are setting up websites that are not only appealing to a Nigeria audience but to global traffic.

www.nigerianlazychef.com Created by Nma. I am quirky, and what you would call a nerd. As a growing girl, I disliked ‘going into the kitchen’ because I was so ‘lazy’. In fact, my laziness when it came to cooking could be said to have superseded epic proportions! At a point all I could cook was ‘jollof supergetti’ for my brothers.

While my father was alive (may GOD rest his soul), he used to have me make him fresh, oil-less okra soup and boy did I hate it! As the years went by, I started falling in love with art. And the necessity to cook for others, and myself, pushed me to look for ways to rustle up simple but delicious meals. From then, I became more interested in cooking and started developing recipes.

www.kemifilani.com Kemi Filani Blog shares up-to-date entertainment, lifestyle, weddings and metros in and across Nigeria. The blog is dressed with compelling articles that grows unique visitors and ensure returning visitors becomes loyal readers.

KFB celebrates GOD, Love/weddings, Juicy celebrity gist, inspiration, movies and Contemporary style News!

www.infashionitrust.com I am a Nigerian-American style and lifestyle blogger currently residing in my hometown of Southern California. I earned my MBA (Masters of Business Administration) in May 2016 from the American University at Washington, D.C. Before moving to D.C. for school, I worked in the advertising media world. I hope to combine my marketing background along with my business acumen to making a statement in the blogging and fashion industries. I am a Christ follower and love to express that on this platform. I feel that God has given me an avenue to not only express myself, but also His goodness. I hope you can

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WEBPRENEURSHIP

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BOOKS

BOOKS

by Nigerian writers

Most of the books here are selections from the Literary Hub Bookshelf known for smart, engaged, entertaining writing about all things books. One thing that I know now is the greatness of Nigerian writers. The unique approach of Nigerians attitude to whatever they do. In every profession, writing included, we are good and special and the whole world is testifying to that. We have moved a bit ahead with this quarter’s books by Nigerian writers.

- compiled by SALAMOTU

Author: Abubakar Adam Ibrahim Title: Season of Crimson

SULE

Blossoms

Abubakar Adam Ibrahim was born in 1979 in Jos, Nigeria. His debut short story collection The Whispering Trees was greeted with positive acknowledgement by the reading public following its publication in 2014. It was longlisted for the inaugural Etisalat Prize for Literature that same year and with the title story shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing. Abubakar Adam brought northern Nigerian literature to limelight creating the unique northern voice in literature.

His Debut novel Season of Crimson Blossoms marks the renaissance of Northern Nigerian literature as it won the 2016 NLNG prize for literature making him one of the first of the Northern authors to win the prize. Season of Crimson Blossoms is a powerful, exciting and captivating novel about the love affair between a 55 year old woman, (Hajia Binta) and a gangster youth (Hassan Riza) half her age. It is a story that brings up issues such as kunya (shame/respect) as a factor in the predominantly Hausa Muslim community, something not usually discussed in the open. The UK edition was co-published by Paresia and Cassava Republic. A must read for everyone!

Author: Elnathan John Title: Born

on a Tuesday Elnathan John is a two time Cain Prize finalist and a Nigerian born satirist from north-west of Kaduna state. He stormed the literary scene with his short story collection, Bayan Layi which was shortlisted for the Cain prize in 2014.

Born on a Tuesday is a gripping story of Dantala the eponymous character, an Almajiri. The word Almajiri is usually referred to students who have been sent to areas beside his original home to learn Islamic theology under the custody of a Mallam also known as his teacher.

Dantala, a name referring to somebody born on a Tuesday in Hausa culture and tradition was sent to Sokoto were he became victim of religion manipulation, like others he tries to salvage himself but was greeted with challenges especially as he has to learn to live with the contradictions in his life.

While the Almajiri has been misrepresented and misunderstood, El Nathan proves in his writings that the Almajiri is a normal human being with normal feelings capable of not only making friends but falling in love.

Elnathan John is one of the few voices of literature from the north trying to present the socio realistic issues underlying the northern Nigerian society.

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Author: Dikeogu Chukwumerije

Urichindere

BOOKS

Title:

Dike Chukwumerije is a Nigerian author, poet, and a performing artist and a lawyer. His debut novel Urichindere won the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) prize for prose in 2014.

Urichindere is a personal narrative of a student’s life in a boarding school in which facts and fiction were mixed. It also details the progress of the student from a lonely form, one student who later on was not only to overcome his loneliness but also make friends and his school becomes another home.

The novel was set in the military era against the background of the June 12 episode. It is also a scheme of military rule.

Though a satire, the book is hilarious and tells the fun of being a boarding school in which one learns to be self-reliant and cultivate a sense of communal value. With the revelations being made and with the military out of government, one can confidently appreciate Mr. Chukwumerije’s Urichindere. The book is fun and a read for the holiday season would be wonderful.

Author: Othuke Ominiabohs Title:

Odufa, A Lover’s Tale Odufa is a captivating story of two young people in love. Odufa transports you from the ancient commercial city of Kano to the highbrow victoria garden city of cosmopolitan Lagos to the luxurious foliage of the Niger Delta.

Odufa met Anthony at a time when both were undergoing trials of life. Odufa suffers from a heart break and Anthony from medical problem which tends to have put his future expectation in jeopardy.

The love between Anthony and Odufa is further characterized by ethnic chauvinism which the two believes they can whither.

However, Later events move to prove that in traditional Nigerian setting, love alone is not enough to overcome the traditional suspicion and the stereotyped assumption that characterize the relationship among the various ethnic groups in Nigeria.

The Odufa story is a testimony that in spite of the efforts that the state has done in the course of promoting national unity like the Youth Service and the individual interactions, traditional beliefs has continued to be the under current on which relationships are determined when it concerns the issue of inter-ethnic marriage. Odufa holds a reader spellbound as the novel is a page turner.

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INSPIRATIONAL

Inspirational Nigerians

Inspirational Nigerians showcases Nigerians home and abroad who have been a source of inspiration to Nigerians in their respective professions and career. It is an avenue to celebrate their achievements and showcase their success stories to inspire other people.

Lakin Ogunbanwo Lakin Ogunbanwo is a Nigerian-born, self-taught photographer who has a unique understanding of colours.

He has a sophistication as a fashion photographer which enables him to transform the human body into a work of art through his lens. Over the years, Lakin has proved himself to be a force to be reckoned with in the Nigerian fashion industry with his contemporary perspective to studio photography. He is noted to be influenced by Malick Sidibe, the Malian photographer who was famous for his black and white studies of popular culture in the1960s in Bamako.

Ogunbanwo has worked with some of Nigeria’s major advertising companies, and created images for international fashion and style magazines. He has previously participated in the annual Lagos Photo Festival in Lagos and had solo presentations of his work across the continent, such as Portraits at the gallery Rooke and Van Wyk in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2013.

More recently, Ogunbanwo showcased his work in New York in a solo exhibition at the Brooklyn based gallery Red Hooks Lab. He has mastered his art and has been able to promote his unique African heritage around the world.

Lakin Ogunbanwo first began practicing his art while studying at Law school in the UK. Initially self taught, he eventually travelled to Paris for professional studies at the Spéos Photography Institute. His work features bold and provocative portraits, as well as fashion, often set against bright colours and Lagos cityscapes. Ogunbanwo’s series quietly challenge the conservative culture of Nigeria. In 2013 he was profiled by CNN as one of “Africa’s Most Exciting New Photographers”.

His work combines elements of fashion photography with classical composition to create images of strange, unfathomable beauty. He was influenced by culture and the ritualistic power of repetition in the role that photography has created.

The faces of Ogunbanwo’s subjects are often concealed by masks or turned away from the camera’s lens, so that their bodies become like strong, symbolic sculptures. In one of his series entitled ‘Are you ok’, Ogunbanwo explores ideas of tradition and modernity that are often considered to be at odds within African culture and proves that the two need not be mutually exclusive.

His shoot therefore combines deep elements of traditional Nigerian attire, exploring the significance of traditional dress and its power to convey social standing and personal taste.

Lakin is therefore an inspiration to many Nigerian both home and abroad.

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Sulaimon Lasun

Deputy Speaker Federal House of Representative

H

onourable Yusuf Sulaimon Lasun …

Buoyed by the Tide of Providence.

En route to the Shore of Loftier Glory.

‘There is a tide in the affairs of men in the affairs of men’ proclaims the great wordsmith Shakespeare, ‘which taken at the flood, leads on to fortunes.

Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and miseries.

On such a full sea are we afloat. And we must take the current when it serves or lose our ventures’ If there is one adventurer who knows how best to seize opportunities when they come knocking, it’s no other soul than Deputy Speaker, of the Federal House of Representatives, the Right Honourable Yusuf Sulaimon Lasun.

In his never- ending journey of discovery he has shown the uncanny capacity to know when to press on his luck to prime advantage for luck is nothing but preparation meeting opportunity; for what some would idly call luck has everything to do with get ready to beard the lion of opportunity when it sneaks to life: Opportunity is resonantly and irretrievable missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like hard, painstaking work.

Combining a mixed combination of legendary name of Yussuf, the Divine Dreamer, that dreamt his way to the perch political power in ancient Egyptian civilisation and Sulaimon, the wisest man that ever lived, the ascendancy of Yussuf Sulaimon Lasun to the top of the Leaderboard in the highly-combustible politics of the National Assembly has become the stuff legends are made of, going about the way he was able to secure a bipartisan support from across the aisle of the political divide between the ruling APC and the PDP, that has just been historically unhorsed from the saddle of decades of control of the central administration by the new emergent force of nature, All Progressives Congress, a rainbow coalition of opposition forces, fused into one united party, where he ran rings round those with more resonant name recalls.

His life has always been defined with the signature emblem of upsetting all odds, and putting bookmaker’s prediction dismally wrong.

Born October 4, 1960, Sulaimon Lasun is a proud indigene of the legendary kingdom of Ilobu, Osun Sate; and his parents knowing what a head- start education can bequeath to a child, for a vibrant mind is a terrible thing to waste, but a wonderful asset to invest in, gave him the best foundational education at the primary and secondary tiers in Osun State, before he proceeded to the famous University of Ibadan, from where he studied Mechanical Engineering. Lasun is a chartered engineer and holds a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife. That politics of the constructive brand, where he can add value to lives and

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When the quest for perfection in what one does is perpetual, nothing can ever be out of reach. Especially when it all concerns the man who knows how to reach out and touch the heart of all those who are within the reach of his ever expanding sphere of influence, that has now expanded into a larger circle of love at the national scale.

It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what he is, not according to what he has; for the heart of Right Honourable Yussuf Sulaimon Lasun is always in the right place at the right time.

It comes as no surprise when magnetic field around Lasun was able to attract a massive swathe of parity-breaking support across bipartisan moat that united behind his a aspiration to seek loftier service, for when deeds speak, words are nothing.

A thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed: the life of Right Honourable Lasun is rich in the overflowing abundance of deeds all of which has not failed to draw positive attention and recognition which have elicited call for more daunting challenges.

True success is not measured strictly only by what you have accomplished but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.

Lasun has also taken to heart the admonition of the great Foster C. McClellan Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life: Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibilities into flames of achievements’ ‘We are what we repeatedly do: Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit’ The ever-expanding circle of admirers and appreciative constituents appreciate his going places and brightening the faces of many with his legion of feats and positive exploits that are helping to build the framework of good, responsive and purposeful government just as they build bridges of intercourse and commerce across Africa: for high achievements always take place in a framework of high expectation.

Lasun is going places to bring smiles to the faces of the people through the tools of his creative legislative genius: He is the incumbent Ist Deputy Speaker, 4th ECOWAS Legislative Parliament; active as the leader of delegation of our prime legislative hands to such epic outings to 15th Commonwealth Speakers and Presiding Officers Conference African region, in Accra, Ghana, in November, 2015. He was the Deputy Chairperson of the CONFERENCE. ‘The ultimate measure of man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy’ Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep its beam of goodness from themselves, too!

Deservedly he has been getting the upper hand in terms of the many happy returns on his investment in the good life of the people he serves with all his heart, mind, soul, might and all every ticking second of his life. He is a new face in the current combination of the people at the top of governance and is currently inspiring lots of people into taking responsibilities.

Next destination, please!

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INSPIRATIONAL

Rt. Honourable Yusuf

life to the values he believes in and champions, transparently runs in his vein. A grassroots politician like no other driven by the passion to spread goodness to the greatest number of people, it was just true to his character that he was called to serve beyond the call of duty as the Chairman of the ingenuity-challenging Osun State Capital Territory Development Authority, a body established by law with a mandate to facilitate, if not accelerate the urban growth of long laidback Osogbo and neighbouring towns by the farsighted Executive Governor of Osun Sate, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, Needless to say, he made a phenomenal success of the job, helping to turn Osun into a showpiece in architectural masterpieces.

Opportunities magnify the more they are seized by those who have their sight on the horizon.

So became the lucky run of the tried, tested, trusted and respected creative genius who knows how to deliver the goods flawlessly for the good of all. In 2011, he was tapped on the shoulders to run for a legislative seat in the 7th National Assembly as the representative of the Irepodun/Olurunda/Osogbo/Orolu Federal Constituency. He won on the then platform of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which morphed into the All Progressives Congress (APC) with other parties in the run-up to the 2015 general elections in Nigeria. He was appointed Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Water Resources by the then Speaker, AminuWaziriTambuwal. He was also a member of the epic Constitutional Review Committee.

In the 2015 elections, he contested again for the same legislative seat under the Platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and won to represent constituency at the Lower Chamber of the National Assembly.

MUSIC OF NIGERIA

singer, songwriter and an actress

Omawumi Megbele Omawumi Megbele is a Nigerian singer, songwriter and an actress from Warri, Delta State of Nigeria known by her stage name Omawumi. She is a brand ambassador for Globacom, Konga.com and Malta Guinness. She’s also part of the campaign called “Rise with the Energy of Africa”

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MUSIC OF NIGERIA

O

mawumi rose to prominence as a contestant on West African Idols, a reality TV show and part of the Idols franchise.

With her strong voice and out-going personality, she was voted the 1st runner-up of the competition when it ended in May 2007.

Since then, she has had numerous performances on the stage with musicians such as P-square, 2face, D’banj, BankyW, M.I, Sasha,9ice, Chaka Demus and Pliers, Carl Thomas, Angie Stone and Donell Jones, among others. Her sophomore album, The Lasso of Truth, was a commercial success in Nigeria.

Omawumi played a minor role in the 2009 edition of the V-Monolugues, a play that reflects the negative issues affecting women in Nigeria. She also starred in the musical play Olurombi. She had a minor role in the movie Inale, a Hollywood/Nollywood Bongos-Ikwe production, starring Hakeem Kae-Kazeem, Dede Mabiaku, and Ini Edo. In 2011, she starred in Funke Akindele’s Return of Jenifa. Moreover, she starred in Yvonne Nelson’s House of Gold (2013) alongside Majid Michel and Ice Prince. To date, She is still one of the highest paid female musicians in Nigeria.

Omawunmi has been involved in a few non-governmental organisations like Project Alert Pink Pearl Foundation and projects like Notes2notes, and Maga No Need Pay which tried to intimate Nigerian youths on the need to stop involvement in cyber crimes and fraud.

At the 2009 Hip Hop World Awards, Omawunmi went home with the highly coveted award for Next Rated Artist.

She was awarded Best Rnb/Pop Artiste in 2010 at the Nigeria Entertainment Awards which held in New York. She also won the award for Best Female Music Video at the same awards. She has won Outstanding Recording Artiste at the Icon Awards and Best New Artiste at the Women in Entertainment and Arts Programme by Vivacity PR, London.

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NIGERIAN FASHION

FORERUNNER IN CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN FASHION A Nigerian leading fashion designers, Zizi is an artist who projects and interprets what she feels into clothing, to her clothing is about style

Zizi Cardow

Z

izi Cardow is a forerunner in contemporary African fashion. In 2000, when the label was launched, she began a revolution for the African fabric with a view to globalization, resulting in a growing patronage in ethnic fabric.

A Nigerian leading fashion designers, Zizi is an artist who projects and interprets what she feels into clothing, to her clothing is about style. Zizi Cardow started the fashion business with the sum of N150K which she got from another business with one machine, an apprentice and a small rented shop. According to Zizi, the business faced a lot of challenges such as lack of infrastructure and support from one’s own country and textiles companies. However, Zizi was able to overcome all the difficulties as she now has her own runway show where she canvasses her imagination, which includes summer collection, hot couture collection for parties and celebrations. After her first year of breaking into the Nigerian fashion scene, she won the prestigious designer of the year award at the premier event, NFS (Nigerian fashion show) in 2001.

This award launched her designs into the African market (South Africa) and Europe (Italy, France and Britain). 2002 ushered in a series of awards like DAME award for outstanding achievement in fashion, an occasion graced by the president and commander in chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, in a St Moritz style selection award.

The Imo state chamber of commerce conferred her as an ambassador of fashion. Added to her list of laudable achievements is the nomination of her as the only Nigerian representative to the fashion and art exhibition in Milan tagged AFRICANDO, an occasion graced by the mayor of Milan, 56

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dignitaries and foreign ambassadors.

In 2002 her fashion house staged a top-notch fashion show tagged ‘’Jungle Renaissance’’ which received rave reviews from both local and international critics in fashion industry, this then created the scene for the staging of ‘’jungle renaissance reloaded’’ in 2006. As the year progresses, Zizi Cardow had become a household name.

AMONG HER AWARDS ARE: 2010 Peace Ambassador (UN); Young Achievers Award; Global Leadership Award; Fashion And Style Award; Merit Award For African Heritage; Fellowship Award (Institute of Managers Ghana); Designer of The Year (Life changers Award); Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration and Most influential Person in fashion Award.

2009 National citizenship Award; Project Alert Icon and Zenith Award for Excellence.

2008 Mother Africa Merit Award; Great Legend in Africa Merit Award; 2008 The Nigerian Enterprise Award for Excellence and 2008 Fashion and Life Achievement Award.

2007 Pillar of National Development Gold Award; African Leadership Excellence Award; 2007 Focic Talent Development Award; 2007 African Role Model Leadership Award.

2006 Fashion Designer of the Year City People; 2005 Contribution to Fashion Sector Award; 2002 Nigerian Women Awards; St. Moritz Style Selection Award; Fashion Ambassador Award and in 2001/2002 Nigerian Best Fashion Designer. www.cometonigeria.com

NIGERIAN FASHION

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MY NIGERIA

My Nigeria My Nigeria showcases friends of Nigeria who have either been to the country or have interest in Nigeria. It is an avenue for them to tell the world their thoughts and views about Nigeria and her people. This edition of My Nigeria features Lynne R. Baker, PhD, assistant professor, American University of Nigeria

due to habitat loss and degradation and illegal animal poaching. International tourists flock to such countries as South Africa and Tanzania to experience such sites. Nigeria will need to do better to protect its natural places if it wants to compete with other countries in ecotourism.

It is also true that one must be aware of where they travel in Nigeria and the local security situation. Nigerian and foreign tourists want to feel safe and comfortable on their journeys. And they seek high standards of quality. Travelers want to see a “clean” environment, so efforts to address pollution should be prioritized in the country (not only for tourism, but also for human and environmental health). Of course, Nigeria is a large country, and some sites will be tidier, easier to navigate, and more comfortable than others for travelers.

They often say that Nigeria is not on the tourism belt, what do you think Nigeria can do to change this?

Have Nigeria and individual states developed tourism strategies? If not, this is a good place to start. Both international and Nigerian tourists should be considered in any such strategies. I also believe that Nigeria needs to think about tourism as a long-term prospect and not make decisions based on short-term financial gains. This would mean emphasizing and applying the principle of sustainability – including economic, social/cultural, and environmental sustainability.

Can you please introduce yourself to our readers?

What do you think about Nigeria and would you advise anyone to visit?

I was born in the state of Nebraska in the USA, but

I have always had a passion for Nigeria and have

have lived in other U.S. states, including California

returned again and again over the past 20 years.

and Minnesota. My current permanent residence

Some of my closest friends are Nigerian.

is Texas. I first came to Nigeria in 1996 to work for

I have generally found the people of Nigeria to be

a non-governmental conservation organization

resilient and vibrant.

in Calabar, Cross River State. I had an amazing time and learned a great deal about tropical forest

Is Nigeria ready for tourism?

habitats and wildlife and nature conservation.

Nigeria has a lot to offer travelers – it is richly

I subsequently worked in southeast Asia (Vietnam,

diverse and offers many unique experiences. For

Singapore, and Indonesia). While a graduate

example, Nigeria hosts a large number of festivals

student at the University of Minnesota, I decided

and other cultural events. There are also beautiful

to return to Nigeria for my PhD research. The

wild places in the country, including 1) the scenic

focus of my research was a rare primate found

landscapes and resident sacred monkeys of

only in southeastern Nigeria and nowhere else

Akpugoeze (Oji River LGA, Enugu State); 2) Yankari

in the world: Sclater’s monkey (Cercopithecus

Game Reserve (Bauchi State); and 3) the forests,

sclateri). Since 2003, I have traveled back and forth

wildlife, and scenic sites of Cross River and Taraba

to Nigeria and the USA on a regular basis. I am

States (including Afi Mountain, Mbe Mountains,

presently a faculty member at the American

Obudu Ranch, Ngel Nyaki Forest Reserve, and

University of Nigeria and have continued my

Gashaka-Gumti National Park). Unfortunately,

research and conservation programs in Nigeria.

many of Nigeria’s wild places are under threat

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What do you think about this project - Cometonigeria.com and the website?

This is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to travel to Nigeria or already in Nigeria and looking for exciting or serene places to visit.

How often do you visit Nigeria Since 2012, I have spent about 4-5 months a year in Nigeria.

What are the most important things you miss when you are away from Nigeria?

My colleagues, my Nigerian friends, yummy coconut rice, and the natural places I love.

What do you miss when you travel away from your country of origin?

My family, my cats, good roads, and fast Internet.

www.cometonigeria.com

OUR HISTORY

Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowder

by Dr. Raphael James

S

amuel was born in 1806 in Osogun near Oyo in present day Oyo State and not Abeokuta as is reported by many. At 12 years old he was captured along with his mother and toddler brother and other family members, with his entire village, by Muslim Fulani slave raiders in 1821. the whole slaves were shared amongst soldiers and Crowther was then traded for a horse. He stayed with the master who bought him in exchange of a horse at Dadda for about a month and was resold to in the open market at Ijayi where he was bought by a Muslim woman who lived in Toko. At this point he attempted suicide and the woman got worried and resold him at the slave market to a Portuguese merchant aboard a Brazilian ship on April 7, 1822.

However, before his slave-ship left the port, it was boarded by a British Royal Navy ship under the command of Captain Henry Leeke, and Crowther was taken to Freetown, Sierra Leone, where he was released. After two and half months, he arrived Freetown, Sierra Leone, a freed slave.

Grew under the care of a Christian Missionary Society (CMS) Schoolmaster. He was taken to London in 1826, schooled briefly in Islington, becoming the first Nigerian to train with English children. In 1827, he enrolled at the Fourah Bay Institute of the CMS. He worked as Teacher (1830-1834) at his Alma mater. He got married in 1829 to a fellow free slave girl converted to Christianity. He was an unusually gifted man. He wrote the account of his captivity on request from the CMS in 1837, 60 |

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15 years after he had been living in Freetown.

It was published in the church missionary Record in October, 1837.

He was ordained in 1843, after his graduation at the Training Institute at Islington. He was the first black Anglican Pastor. He translated the English Bible in Yoruba in 1889, the Yoruba version was available in single volume in 1890.

In the course of the translation, he said “…. I am so absorbed in the problem of translation that I sometimes found it difficult to concentrate in worship”. And in the course of translation, the need to capture the essence of meaning without alternation, nevertheless is an uphill task, and Crowther said “How should this passage be translated, which is the most suitable word, the most correct rendering etc. these varies though about the translation soon take the place of meditation”. His Lokoja and Benue expedition followed in 1854 up to Ibi and reached Jebba in 1857.

The principle behind the Niger expedition was co-operate effort of the Church and the state in promoting Christianity, commerce and civilization in a joint move to combat slave trade. He visited Britain in 1877 and the Royal Geographical Society honoured him with a golden wrist-watch. His personal sacrifice cannot be underrated. Twice in 1859 and 1871, his boat was grounded, he had to trek all the way back to Lagos. In 1888 four years after Crowther became Bishop, the Egba expelled European Missionaries from Abeokuta as a reprisal against the policies of the colonial administration in Lagos.

Crowther, accused the European that they were more interested in wielding power than in evangelization. Bishop Crowther, on leaving Osogun, said “Farewell, place of my birth, the play ground of my childhood, and the place which I thought would be the repository of my mortal body in its old age”.

On June 29, 1864 he was consecrated the Bishop of Western Equatorial Africa by the Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1843, a grammar book which he started working on during the Niger expedition was published; and a Yoruba version of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer followed later. He also compiled a vocabulary of the Yoruba language, including a large number of local proverbs, published in London in 1852. He produced a primer for the Igbo language in 1857, another for the Nupe language in 1860, and a full grammar and vocabulary of Nupe in 1864.

In 1864, he was ordained as the first African bishop of the Anglican Church; he was consecrated a bishop on St Peter’s day 1864,

by Charles Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury at Canterbury Cathedral. He later received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the University of Oxford. His daughter was the mother of Herbert Macaulay, the great nationalist. At the age of 85, Crowther had stroke in Bonny and was brought to Lagos, he died a week later on December 31, 1891 and was buried at ‘Ajele Cemetery’. Ajele Cemetery, but later exhumed for proper burial now at the CMS Cathedral Church Compound.

www.cometonigeria.com

GADGETS HISTORICAL SITES

Preserving Historical Sites Nigeria is blessed with a rich cultural heritage, several hundreds of tribes, dialects and languages. There are lots of attractions that can woo tourists to the country but specifically, this quater we want to talk about the three major benefits of preserving our Historical Sites

NOK Village Kaduna

copyright: http://www.reportsafrique.com/

THREE MAJOR BENEFITS OF PRESERVING HISTORICAL SITES -by Amadi Inya

S

heikh Hazza Bin Zayed said during the safeguarding heritage conference heritage, held in Abu Dhabi, that building a nation is not complete without safeguarding heritage. There are a lot of historical sites all over the world but most of them are untapped and they lack attention from both the government and the media.

According to Wikipedia, a historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. A historical site may be a building, landscape, site, or structure that is of local, regional or national significance.

Some people are of the opinion that there is no need preserving old buildings considering the fact that it is more expensive than building new ones. Building new houses no doubt is good but you can not compare it with the numerous benefits attached to preservation of heritage sites.

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CULTURAL BENEFITS: Historical sites play a cultural role. For instance, buildings review what happened in the past before we were born. That is to say it is a direct representative of history. For example, the NOK village in Kaduna State, Nigeria, teaches us about the NOK people’s culture or ways of life, occupation, religion and so on.

The preservation of historical sites enables us to share the same environment in which the people before us lived.

Preservation of historical sites helps to link a community’s past and same time strengthens the future. In other to keep building on our rich cultures, the historic sites must be respected, maintained and preserved for the future generations.

ECONOMIC BENEFIT Preservation of historical sites can be expensive but on the other hand it leads to economic growth. Historical sites are an essential tool to enhance the economy and quality of lives of the locals. Historic sites are www.cometonigeria.com

TOURISM ATTRACTION: Historic sites are major component of tourism attractions. It is known as cultural or heritage tourism. The national tourists defined cultural tourism as traveling to experience places and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present.

It includes historic, culture, natural resources, landforms, festivals, arts/ crafts, historic houses, monuments and so on.

Riyom Rock - Plateau state

Awhum Waterfall

Egbunike Cave

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2017 63

HISTORICAL SITES GADGETS

part of tourism attractions and they have the capacity to draw tourists and the tourists, therefore, bring money to the community. The influx of tourists to a destination practically leads to economy growth and development. It can also create jobs (direct and indirect) for the community and foreigners.

FEATURETRAVEL STORYPIECE

The traveler has more knowledge than the gray haired by - Janine Udogu waiters. It is a beautiful place worth visiting. I still want to travel much more and see the whole range of things Nigeria has to offer. Because even though I have been to this country many times, there are still so many things to discover. And since Nigeria is not yet a place of mass tourism, you get to see this country in its raw beauty.

People will come and greet you wherever you are and they will be more than happy to show you around. Nowhere before have I been so warmly welcomed by everybody.

To me Nigeria has become my second home.

My husband and I try to come to Isuofia every Christmas, because we want our children to learn about the culture and practice their Igbo language skills. The fact that they were born in Europe should not make them forget where their roots are. And I would hate myself if my kids would one day travel to Nigeria and feel like strangers. Personally, I believe that there is so much more to Nigeria than what people hear about in the news. It is like a secret island that waits to be discovered. You just have to go there, and see it for yourself.

Like the Igbo would say: “Onye nje nje ka onye isi awo mara ihe.” The traveler has more knowledge than the gray haired.

F

or someone who grew up in Switzerland, it was hard to imagine how an estimated 14 million people can live together in just one city – Lagos. It did feel a bit like stepping on an anthill when I got out at Mohammed Murtala Airport for the first time.

People were everywhere and the traffic was bad. Without any rules for drivers, every road junction created a new car jam. Everyone was fighting to make their way home and it took us over two hours to reach our hotel. But today Lagos is no longer the chaotic city it used to be.

I literally saw the improvement happen each time I came back to this mega city. Lagos is now not only a center for business and finance but also the home of the Nigerian Movie and Music industry and the developing center of Nigerian Tourism.

If you are looking for a fun night out, Lagos is the place to be. If you want to join a literature club, Lagos is the place to go, and if you want to relax at a private beach, this is the place to visit.

But there is more to see in Nigeria than this miraculous city. My husband and I usually drive to the east by car and you would be surprised to see how fast the landscape changes from city houses to green rainforest when leaving Lagos. It feels like entering another world. The exotic trees, small rivers and lakes, countless termite mounds and the red sand make a beautiful picture. And the fresh bananas and hand roasted groundnuts that are

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sold along the road by the farmers make this journey unforgettable. Never in my life have I tasted bananas as good as these. Once we pass the bridge in Onitsha we know that we are almost home.

My husband comes from a small village in Anambra State called Isuofia. To me, it is like arriving in paradise. There is rainforest everywhere and the birds compose their own heavenly songs to match the scenery. Isuofia is a place where you get to see all the fruits of Garden Eden growing in abundance. Mangos, pineapples, papayas and coconuts to name only a few.

The red colored sand complements the lush green of the trees in perfect harmony and there is nothing as relaxing as to take a walk into the bush. But we don’t just come here to recover from the stress of everyday life. The village is the place where things are happening. Be it weddings or burials, there is always a reason to gather and celebrate life.

If you drive out of Isuofia you might see a few crocodiles taking sun at Agulu lake. And the Suya sellers along the road to Awka will be happy to provide you with freshly roasted meat. Awka itself is a great place to visit. It is far from the size of Lagos but it has many things to offer.

My favorite place is an outdoor restaurant called Doro Garden where you can eat fresh fish (point and kill) under the palm trees. The Garden is so spacious that you are handed an “Ogene” (traditional instrument) to call your

Janine Udogu

www.cometonigeria.com

LETTERS

Your Letters, Comments & Photos

send your comments to cometonigeria@googlemail.com NATIONAL TREASURE

BRANDING NIGERIA I am very familiar with CometoNigeria. The awesome contribution you are making in the Nigeria’s Tourism sector cannot be overemphasized. It is a great initiative you have.

Branding Nigeria is key to increasing our visibility around the globe. Our country needs all the contributions like this to move forward, the Nigeria way is getting in the way.

Things must be busted up, shake off the dust. So ride on my people.

Editor’s Response: We at Cometonigeria believed that Nigeria is good place to come and invest and relax, developed countries are expressing worst scenario than what we are experiencing, so join us and come to Nigeria, the giant of Africa

GREAT CONCEPT Great concept you have in ComeToNigeria both online and in print. A great magazine which I have had the chance to read many times, creative piece coming out from talented Nigerians. I recommend we Nigerians all over the globe support the Magazine and all other social handle of CometoNigeria. That is when other friends of Nigeria will start coming in.

Ruth Asuquo Alausa Ikeja Lagos

BAD STORIES.

Editor’s Response:

Editor’s response: We want to lift up the morale of our readers and inspire them to pursue their dream and work hard no matter what challenges they may face because Nigeria is a country for all of us.

Many thanks for your letter. We definitely will appreciate supports coming from public and private sectors to keep this project going because anywork you do that you don’t make money from is classified as voluntary. But such support will help in bringing to the front of our readers every quarter.

Regards.

I am a great Fan of your magazine that I read regularly. I feel that Nigeria is a country with a lot of potentials but unfortunately what we hear and read all the time about the country are only the bad stories. I am sure your publication is able to change that. Your publication should help fight prejudices confronting Nigerians abroad and help to promote the good side of Nigeria day in day out. Zainab Lawal, New Hampshire USA

Getting what you want is not as important as what you already have. Guys, looking through just your website, I can confirm wholeheartedly that this your project is a Nigeria National Treasure. I am still surprised that Nigeria has to realize how much you have contributed to the promotion of the country. But I know that one day in not a distant future, someone will single out your efforts and bring it to the open.

Come to Nigeria”, I am very grateful for your work. Nigeria is my adopted home.

Mark Murphy, Amsterdam, Holland Editors Response: Thank you for your letter and your positive comments. We are just trying our best to see that the good sides of the country is also known and appreciated since there are always two sides to a coin.

We are confident that our patriotic approach will yield dividends soon.

Disclaimer: Images featured on this page are not the properties of CometoNigeria; they were posted on our forum by users and visitors.

TOURISM AS AGENT FOR ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATIONS

Well done Adisa. This is a very good and forward thinking addition to your continuous efforts in bringing Nigeria to limelight. In the arts and culture that you have excel and now with this publication.

I am very proud of you. Blessing to your organisation. Ire o.

Peter Badejo London United Kingdom Editor’s response: Much appreciated Sir. You have also done the country proud both at home and abroad and your work and contribution to in Nigerian dance is unsuppasable. www.cometonigeria.com

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GADGETS

Gadgets this quarter

1. iPhone 8

T

he next iPhone is going to be a major refresh for the product.

The so-called iPhone 8 is said to have an all-glass design, an organic LED display for better images, no home button, new screen sizes, and more. Apple is also working on adding built-in augmented reality features which may not make it into the next phone.

2017 will mark the iPhone’s tenth birthday, so expect Apple to go all out to mark the occasion.

2. Ninebot Segway

T

he Ninebot isn’t your typical Segway. It comes with a built-in 3D camera to give you better depth perception and object recognition while you’re riding. These cameras come with a global-positioning system (GPS) so you can easily track your location.

The vehicle also comes with voice-recognition software, so you can control it both during your trip and when you’ve hopped off the scooter. The robot Segway can also sync to your smartphone and perform many of the same functions, such as application management and video sending.

When you’re not riding the Ninebot, the device can follow you around and carry your groceries for you. It also has a fresh new design, sporting arms and a screen as the head.

3. ANKI COZMO TOBOT TOY

W

hether you’re 7 or 47, your own friendly robot sidekick has arrived. Anki’s Cozmo uses cameras, sensors and AI to interact with pets and humans.

You can even program the palm-sized dude to recognize faces and say your name. Sure, its robotic cooing can annoy, but if you decide to ignore him, he’ll use the world’s tiniest forklift to play with his glowing blocks. When you’re ready, you can pick games to play in the iPhone and Android app.

And things like safety, security, and durability have all been rigorously tested.

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4. Microsoft Surface Book 2

M

icrosoft’s first-ever laptop, the Surface Book, should be due for an update in 2017, too. The computer got a bit faster and more powerful this year, but it’ll be interesting to see if Microsoft can push its capabilities even further in 2017.

www.cometonigeria.com