Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 14, 2023

Dabyna Poll-Abraham: The Best Rock Music Guitarist in Africa


Dabyna Poll-Abraham:  Son of Rock

The Best Rock Music Guitarist in Africa

@dabynasonofrock is the best rock music guitarist in Africa for over 20 years and still counting. 

A fact that majority of Nigerians don't know. And he is a Nigerian.

He has performed in the United States of America, the United Kingdom and other countries.

He is also amiable, humble and noble. 

A very philosophical musician.

I have had the honour of performing with him in 2002 as he and his band played for the rendition of my song, "Darego! You Are the Most Beautiful Girl in the World" in honour of Agabani Darego, the first Black African Miss World crowned in 2001. 

The live performance was for the graduation day of the students of the Alliance Française at the French Cultural Centre in Ikoyi, Lagos, Nigeria.

It was an unforgettable night as the girls were screaming as I sang.

Do you know that Daby Poll-Abraham also plays Afrobeats rock music?

- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,

Publisher/Editor,
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series,
Nigerians Report Online,
https://www.nigeriansreportng.blogspot.com
New Nigeria on Pinterest
www.pinterest.com/nigeriansreport
https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelchimaeyerengozi


#rockmusic 

#rock 

#music

#afrobeats 

#agbanidarego

#beautiful

#girls

#graduation

#graduationday

#song

#missworld 

#nigeria

#africa

#guitarist

#unitedstates

#america 

#uk

#france

#french

#lagos

#ikoyi

#art

#culture 

#band


Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Neocolonial Stupidity and Tribal Political Hypocrisy of Those Calling for US/UK Visa Bans on MC Olumo, FFK and Others

Neocolonial Stupidity and Tribal Political Hypocrisy of Those Calling for US/UK Visa Bans on MC Olumo, FFK and Others

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/577848-us-imposes-visa-ban-on-nigerians-who-disrupted-elections.html






Neocolonial stupidity is when the natives are still the puppets of their colonial masters.

Those calling on the governments of the United States of America and United Kingdom to place visa bans on those behind political violence during the 2023 elections in Nigeria need to read "The Wretched of the Earth" by Frantz Fanon.

Have we not witnessed political violence in America and Britain?
Have we not seen electoral malpractices in these so called developed Western countries?
Are they holier than us?

Which country has placed a visa ban on the immediate past President of America, Donald Trump who actually instigated the violent mob of his supporters to attack the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021?

The majority of those asking for visa bans on their fellow citizens of Nigeria are Igbos who accused certain political stalwarts of the national ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC) of tribal bigotry against the Igbos in Lagos State, that became the Battleground of the 2023 presidential election and gubernatorial election. But the divisive political campaigns of demagoguery of the dominant Igbo presidential candidate, Peter Obi of the opposing Labour Party (LP) who exploited the angst of majority of Igbos against the Nigerian government caused the bitterness between the Igbos and Yorubas.
He deliberately stoked the embers of hatred against the APC by his call to action on his fellow Igbos in their largest locations in Lagos State to support and vote for him to win the presidential election on February 25, 2023. 
He also used the same political tactics in religious demagoguery for his fellow "Christians" to vote against the Muslim presidential candidate of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his Muslim running mate, Alhaji Kashim Shettima Mustapha.
His divisive political campaigns provoked the APC and as they say: there's no smoke without fire.

The Igbos provoked the Yorubas to attack them in Lagos State during the elections.

The political hypocrisy of those asking for the visa bans is that they have ignored the fact that, the worst cases of violence during the elections occurred among their fellow Igbos in their own states in the south eastern region of Nigeria. But they have not included the name of any Igbo political stalwart or terrorist on their visa bans list.

All Igbos supporting the violent separatist groups attacking and killing people in the south eastern region of Nigeria are equally guilty of political violence against democracy. And they should be banned from entering the United States of America and the United Kingdom.


Friday, September 10, 2021

VIFF Announces 40th Edition Festival Lineup

The poster of the Opening Film 

VIFF40Years_logo_Bl
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

VIFF ANNOUNCES 40TH EDITION FESTIVAL LINEUP,
A RETURN TO IN-CINEMA PRESENTATIONS
AND EXPANDED VIFF CONNECT ACCESS

 

40th Vancouver International Film Festival

October 1 – 11, 2021

 
VANCOUVER, BC (SEPTEMBER 8, 2021) Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) celebrates its 40th edition with a vibrant festival program that includes more than 110 feature films, 77 shorts, and 20 events. All films will be presented in-cinema, in strict compliance with provincial COVID-19 health and safety protocols, and select titles will be available for streaming across the province and Canada-wide on the festival’s online streaming platform, VIFF Connect. 

VIFF’s 2021 lineup showcases a kaleidoscopic collection of revelatory work, from provocative documentaries to elevated genre films. VIFF Talks take viewers behind the camera, and Totally Indie Day, VIFF AMP, and VIFF Immersed conferences support the local creative communities. VIFF’s 40th edition will officially open with an in-cinema screening of the inventive biopic The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, from U.K. director Will Sharpe, starring Benedict Cumberbatch who gives a bravura performance as the Victorian illustrator who found lasting fame with his knack for drawing cute cats. The festival will mark its closing with an in-cinema screening of Petite Maman, the latest from French director Céline Sciamma. A simple, subtle fairy tale about the mysterious bond between mother and daughter, the poetic film is realized with supreme delicacy and tact. 

"Perhaps more than any other art form, film has helped us through these past 18 months," says Kyle Fostner, Executive Director. "Isolated in our homes, we turned to movies for a connection to a larger world, full of perspectives, ideas, and culture. Our milestone 40th edition will be a celebration of cinema that shares the singular joy of experiencing incredible storytelling safely together, basking in the warm glow of the big screen. At the same time, we’ll continue to offer the opportunity and accessibility gained with last year’s model — with 85 per cent of our festival's vast and varied offerings available online via VIFF Connect. And for the first time, a large selection of films will also be available online across Canada."

VIFF Board Chair Lucille Pacey adds: "VIFF has always been a festival rooted in community and cinematic excellence. We mark this special edition by reconnecting with those who have supported us through the past four decades and with those who are only just discovering all that VIFF has to offer. VIFF's remarkable team has programmed an extraordinary lineup that highlights the voices of today and looks to the future of filmmaking."

“For our 40th edition, our programmers have curated a diverse selection of international cinema that includes work from dozens of countries and countless communities here in Canada,” says Curtis Woloschuk, Associate Director of Programming. “It’s a lineup that truly offers a plurality of perspectives. Many of this year’s selections are born of this era, as they share stories of reconnections with family and community, and employ structures that bend time. There are powerful narratives from Indigenous filmmakers, poignant stories from female perspectives, and bold work that confronts critical issues such as colonialism, racism, and the climate crisis. Likewise, there are films that testify to the transportative power of creativity and remind us that, even when it’s darkest, we can dream.”

Tickets are now on sale at viff.org. Single tickets are $15 for in-cinema presentations, $17 for in-cinema Special Presentations, and $10 for VIFF Connect. All-access VIFF Connect passes are $80, and will provide access to a selection of film titles and VIFF Talks streamed online. The Limited Edition Festival Pass is $725, and will provide access to all in-cinema and online screenings. While a selection of the film programming via VIFF Connect will remain geo-blocked to the province, a vast majority of films will be available across Canada. VIFF Talks, VIFF AMP, Totally Indie Day, and VIFF Immersed will be livestreamed Canada-wide and internationally, providing an unprecedented level of access to filmmakers and fans around the globe. 

 
Tickets and Information
 
VIFF Connect Single Tickets for Films and Talks: $10
VIFF Connect Festival Pass: $80 Regular / $110 Household
VIFF In-Cinema Single Tickets for Films and Talks: $15
VIFF In-Cinema Special Presentations: $17
VIFF Limited Edition Festival Pass: $725
40th Anniversary 4-Ticket Pack: $48 Regular / $32 Student / $44 Senior
VIFF AMP Pass In-person: $75 Regular / $25 Student
VIFF AMP Pass Online: $25 Regular / $15 Student
Totally Indie Day In-person: $45 Regular / $25 Student
Totally Indie Day Online: $25 Regular / $15 Student
VIFF Immersed: Free
 
Single tickets and passes available at viff.org.
 
To explore VIFF’s complete 2021 programming, visit viff.org.
 
VIFF’s health and safety protocols — in strict compliance with provincial health orders — can be viewed HERE.

With the generous support of these partners:

 

PressRelease_LogoStrip_18Aug

 

Founded in 1982, the Greater Vancouver International Film Festival Society is a not-for-profit cultural society and federally registered charitable organization that operates the internationally acclaimed Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) and the year-round programming at the VIFF Centre. VIFF produces screenings, talks, conferences, and events that act as a catalyst for the community to discover the creativity and craft of storytelling on screen. For its 40th edition, VIFF takes place both online and in-cinema, from Oct. 1–11, 2021, showcasing the top international, Canadian, and BC films along with creators and industry professionals from around the globe.

VIFF is presented on the traditional and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil‑Waututh) Nations.

Media inquiries:
press@viff.org
Laura Murray | 
lmurray@mpmgarts.com | 604.418.2998
Ines Min | imin@mpmgarts.com | 604.440.0791
 

MPMG_logo-wordmark_blackblue_sm





Sunday, February 28, 2021

The Rights To "Lagos in Motion" Acquired for Nigeria and the UK

The Rights To "Lagos in Motion" Acquired for Nigeria and the UK

"Lagos in Motion" is the first of three documentary films on Lagos and will be followed by "Lagos in Celebration" on social events and festivities and "Lagos is Working" on Lagosians at work on land, sea and air, from traders on the streets and markets to factory workers and office workers to capture one of the most resilient cities in the world in motion picture.

More photographs and video clips are on https://twitter.com/247nigeria

Produced and directed by Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, one of the most popular travel reviewers on Trip Advisor and Publisher and Editor of Nollywood Mirror series on the Nigerian film industry, the documentary film shows the major landmarks and the people of Lagos in more than 35 different locations never seen before on film with some dramatic moments of young tourists on the road and at popular Elegushi beach in Lekki.

Michael Chima who has been living in Lagos since birth has seen the evolution of Lagos from the 1970s to date as the federal capital of Nigeria before losing the status to Abuja in 1991, but has become one of the fastest growing cities in the world as the commercial capital of Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa and the continent's largest economy boosted by the rapid development of Lagos state with a population of more than 20 million people attracting both local and global investors to become the richest state in Nigeria and fifth biggest economy in Africa as the largest megacity with the highest GDP.

Lagos is also heartbeat of the continent for entertainment with the phenomenal Nollywood, the largest home entertainment industry in Africa and second largest home videos industry in the world after Bollywood of India and ahead of Hollywood in production of home videos.

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Jen Brister To Host makers & shakers Awards Inaugural Ceremony


Jen Brister To Host makers & shakers Awards Inaugural Ceremony 

"We are excited to announce that comedian Jen Brister will be hosting the makers & shakers Awards inaugural ceremony on December 14th 2020.

The makers & shakers Awards supported by EQUALS, a brand new event to celebrate excellence in global production.

The makers & shakers Awards – which were officially launched at a special event at BAFTA in December – honour ground-breaking ideas and initiatives from the world’s commercial, TV, film, animation and gaming sectors.

makers & shakers  Virtual Awards Ceremony 

###

I was recommended for the inaugural makers & shakers Awards, but the heartbreaking catastrophe of the COVID-19 pandemic left me  totally distracted and disinterested in celebrations and events in the entertainment industry. I retreated into self-isolation even before the compulsory lockdown started and till date I have not been to any physical event or had a physical appointment. 

Without making noise about it, I have been promoting film locations in Nigeria for international TV and film productions and film tourism which attracted the global film industry since 2016 to date.  Film tourism can generate more revenues for Nigeria than the revenues from Nigerian movies. Movie merchandising makes more money than the box office and subscriptions to OTT platforms combined.

The #Nollywood box office hit comedy, "The Wedding Party" would have made more money from movie merchandising than the box office.  

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Nigerian NGO and five others to receive $3million Grant

15 Sep 2011 20:10 Africa/Lagos

The Co-Creation Hub of Nigeria, Association for Democratic Reforms (India), Fundacion Ciudadano Inteligente (Chile), Mideast Youth (Bahrain), Centre UA (Ukraine), and Open Knowledge Foundation (UK) have been selected for the Omidyar Network’s $3million grant for advancing government transparency and accountability.

The following is the detailed news release.

Omidyar Network Supports Technology-Centered Organizations Seeking to Empower Citizens Across Six Countries
Announcement coincides with establishment of global hub for Government Transparency in London

PR Newswire

LONDON and REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Sept. 15, 2011

LONDON and REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Sept. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Omidyar Network announced today its intent to grant up to $3M to six leading organizations focused on advancing government transparency and accountability. The organizations are: Association for Democratic Reforms (India), Co-Creation Hub (Nigeria), Fundacion Ciudadano Inteligente (Chile), Mideast Youth (Bahrain), Centre UA (Ukraine), and Open Knowledge Foundation (UK).

Through its Government Transparency initiative, Omidyar Network invests in organizations that use technology and media platforms to provide access to information and tools necessary for citizens to participate in the governing process and hold governments to account. Over the last two years, the firm has invested over $40M in transparency efforts across the globe, including organizations such as mySociety in the United Kingdom, Ushahidi in Kenya, Janaagraha in India and the Sunlight Foundation in the United States.

Omidyar Network intends to provide an operating grant of up to $750k to Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), an organization that seeks to improve governance and strengthen India's democracy through electoral and political reforms. ADR discloses the backgrounds of parliament and state assembly candidates so that voters have the knowledge to make informed decisions. The nonprofit also works for greater transparency and accountability in elections and in political parties, and on raising awareness on changes needed in the electoral and political system. For more information: www.adrindia.org.

The Co-Creation Hub in Lagos, Nigeria will receive up to $200k in support of creating a shared work space where stakeholders from multiple walks of Nigerian life come together to collaboratively create tech-based solutions that address social challenges facing Nigerian society. It will be Nigeria's first multi-functional, multi-purpose space dedicated to the creation of social technology ventures. The Hub will accommodate 50-60 tech start-ups at one time and will provide pre-incubation services including: advice, training, mentorship and access to funding through a network of local and international partners. The Hub will also serve as a place for stakeholders to meet, brainstorm, share ideas and collaborate through partnership events, meet-ups, focus groups, hackathons, competitions and talks by guest speakers. For more information: http://www.cchubnigeria.com/

Omidyar Network intends to support Fundacion Ciudadano Inteligente with a grant up to $500k over three years. The Chilean nonprofit creates technology platforms, including websites and mobile applications, to provide citizens access to easy-to-use, graphical information about their government. Citizens can learn about what issues will be debated in parliament, access the profiles and voting records of elected officials and learn about the demographic make up of the legislature. Future plans include creating online tools to learn about money's influence in politics and government, as well as expansion to other Latin America countries. For more information: http://www.votainteligente.cl/

Mideast Youth will receive a grant up to $600k to expand its multi-media content and further develop CrowdVoice, a white-label platform used to build communities around social topics, such as human rights, religious freedom, tolerance, and free speech. Mideast Youth provides a unique platform in the Middle East for the discussion of issues affecting young people, and in the past two years has developed a number of websites to bring attention to marginalized groups in the region. The core sites provide a forum for discussion around a range of cultural and rights issues and are updated daily by more than 300 regular citizen journalists who contribute to the sites. For more information: www.mideastyouth.com.

Omidyar Network will grant Centre UA $335k over two years in support of its initiative, New Citizen. New Citizen is a coalition of more than 50 Ukrainian civil society organizations seeking to secure a greater voice for citizen participation in the political process and holding government to account. Omidyar Network support will enable the coalition to build out its technology platforms, enable education and outreach and expand the program with the Ukraine. For more information: http://newcitizen.org.ua.

The Open Knowledge Foundation of the United Kingdom will receive a grant of up to $750k over three years. The U.K. nonprofit builds tools and communities to promote open access to information that can be used, reused and redistributed freely. The Open Knowledge Foundation works to increase knowledge about open data, designs innovative visualization tools that enable citizens to access and better interpret data, and builds dataset catalogues to demonstrate to both citizens and government alike the benefits of making data open, free and accessible. Grant proceeds will be used to: expand Open Knowledge Foundation's key financial transparency project, openspending.org; sustain and build working groups on open data; and establish chapters in additional countries. For more information: http://okfn.org.

In a separate announcement, Omidyar Network Investment Partner Steven King stated the philanthropic investment firm this week opened a global office in the Shoreditch area of London. The office will serve as the philanthropic investment firm's headquarters for its work in Europe as well as serve as the global hub for its Government Transparency initiative. He also announced Omidyar Network will begin to expand the geographic focus of its Government Transparency practice to include: Poland, Turkey and Ukraine in Europe; Brazil and Mexico in Latin America; Egypt in the Middle East; and Indonesia and the Philippines in Southeast Asia. The initiative will continue to focus efforts in the United States, India, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa in sub-Saharan Africa and the United Kingdom. [See press release: Omidyar Network Expands European Presence with Opening of London Office].

About Omidyar Network

Omidyar Network is a philanthropic investment firm dedicated to harnessing the power of markets to create opportunity for people to improve their lives. Established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam, the organization invests in and helps scale innovative organizations to catalyze economic and social change. To date, Omidyar Network has committed nearly $450 million to for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations that foster economic advancement and encourage individual participation across multiple investment areas, including microfinance, entrepreneurship, property rights, transparency and accountability, consumer Internet and mobile. To learn more about Omidyar Network, please visit www.omidyar.com.

SOURCE Omidyar Network

CONTACT: Greg Pershall of Omidyar Network, +1-360-607-8901, gpershall@omidyar.com

Web Site: http://www.omidyar.com




Thursday, August 18, 2011

70% of 12 million Nigerians Overseas Are Igbos


Majority of Nigerians overseas are in the US and UK.

Do you know that 70 percent of 12 million Nigerians overseas are Igbos? And 30 percent of them are from Abia State. Moreover, these Nigerians abroad remit over N23 billion every year according to Dr. kalu Kalu Diogu, leader of the Abia State Indigenes in Diaspora and a past Chairman of World Igbo Congress (WIC)

Last year 30 million Africans across the globe invested $40 billion into the continent's economy. And Nigerians accounted for about 55 percent of the money. Nigerians in in Diaspora remitted total of sum of $18 billion in 2009.






Tuesday, August 9, 2011

London is burning, but children are still dying in Somalia


London riots. Photo Credit: The Telegraph


Is the Arab Spring of Blood spreading to the UK as London is engulfed in the inferno of arsonists and looters on rampage? But as London is burning hundreds of children are still dying in the famine ravaging Somalia.

Who was the 29 years old bloke that was killed in exchange of gunfire with police in Tottenham in the twilight of last Saturday?

Would the death of that man be enough to enrage the hundreds of lunatics burning and looting in Birmingham, Canning Town, Manchester, Salford and still spreading?

Well, the pangs of dying children are echoing from Somalia.




Releases displayed in Africa/Lagos time
8 Aug 2011
14:58 Dr. Jill Biden Arrives in Kenya to Visit Dadaab Refugee Camps, Highlight the Need for Aid in the Horn of Africa
05:41 Somalia / Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) welcomes news of Al Shabaab vacating Mogadishu
5 Aug 2011
13:38 Somalia / Radio Simba presenter gunned down in Mogadishu
13:08 Helping Somalia recover and develop: European Commission to invest extra €175 million in governance, education and food security
13:21 IOM Appeals for US$ 26 Million to Assist Victims of Famine and Drought in the Horn of Africa
12:35 One African voice call on the humanitarian situation in the Horn of Africa
4 Aug 2011
15:15 Famine in Somalia Ignites Parliamentary Action
13:06 Sweden / An additional SEK 50 million in humanitarian aid to Somalia
11:48 Somalia: emergency relief for over a million people
08:41 Pledging conference for the Horn of Africa / African Union stands in support for the victims of drought and famine in the Horn of Africa
3 Aug 2011
06:14 Background Briefing on Somalia and Delivery of Humanitarian Assistance
11:00 Humanitarian Emergency, Horn of Africa - Italian Cooperation aid
2 Aug 2011
20:53 AmeriCares Emergency Aid Shipment Headed for Somalia
12:23 Horn of Africa - Italy to step up aid to Somali refugees
12:08 Drought in Horn of Africa / AUC Deputy Chairperson calls for coordinated efforts in Mogadishu and conveys AU's commitment to support afflicted populations and states
07:01 Somalia / Website reporter pardoned and freed in Puntland






Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Nigerians in UK inspire British Author’s new book for Children

Nigerians in UK inspire British Author’s new book for Children

A new book Tópé Arrives is about a Nigerian orphan who was forced against his will to continue his life in England. It is a Nigerian story written by a new British author Wendy Hue who told me why she wrote this emotionally compelling children’s book that has been endorsed by Richard Damilola, the father of Damilola Taylor, the 10-year-old Nigerian child murdered on his way from Peckham Library on November 27, 2000, in south London in 2000. The book was on the long list of the The Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition.



Tópé is suddenly orphaned and against his will he has to leave Nigeria. Worried about starting a new life in England, he feels he is an outsider in his new school. It is a time of tears and tussles. Will his nimble football skills and precious wooden boat somehow help him to carve out a new beginning? Will he ever again be able to believe in himself and drum in with the dundun drums his renewed sense of fun and pride.

The book is specially for 7 - 9 year olds and already selected for Centre for Literacy and Primary Education book fair in London on the 24th June 2011.

Wendy Hue has a lot to say on her book, how Nigerians she has known for years in the UK inspired her literary genius in the writing and her unique multiethnic family among other important facts of her colourful life.




'Tópé Arrives' is just one of many, many stories that I have written.
The reason I decided to move with 'Tópé first was because he kept getting a lot of interest from mainstream publishers and also a literary agent I had about 5 years ago, however he never quite got published by them. Then the manuscript was long listed in The Times/Chicken House 2011 competition and I thought 'you know what - let me take this project in to my own hands' as from what I can see there is a real close net of who decides what books get published and end up on our shelves for all of our children. Children of different ethnicities are dispersed around the globe now and I believe we can no longer think insular, but must think wider because of this. We also have 4th, 5th etc generations of children now who are born and reared in different countries to that of their mother, father, grandparents, great grandparents and so on.

I also believe there is still a real under-representation of books for 'all of our children', where they can all be the main protagonist, the hero, or the fairy queen etc. I do not think we are quite there as yet in terms of having books that represent the complement of ethnicities in many countries, due party I suppose to the migration of peoples from one part of the earth to another today.

In terms of writing 'Tópé Arrives' about another culture, I felt confident enough because I have many, many amazing and wonderful Nigerian friends and worked in Peckham, South London for over 20 years (where there is an enormous and wonderful Nigerian community) so became very familiar with Nigerian culture. As the book, which was originally written, but not edited at that stage, is for young readers I did not want to force too much information about Nigeria in the book. I just wanted that information to trickle through with a light stroke of a paint brush. I hope I have done justice to this.

I can also let you know that I worked with two (not even one) excellent editors, one in particular who is an expert on diversity in children's publishing - Laura Atkins and she worked tirelessly with me to polish up the manuscript. I also commissioned a fabulous illustrator who has one some really wonderful line drawings inside and a beautiful front cover. Zara Slattery is the illustrator. All of this has and getting the book published has been at a total cost to me, but I am passionate about my writing and have persevered. I cannot wait for book number two to come out now, which is 'Ria - Sisterly Plaits' about a young black British Caribbean girl. I am of Caribbean ethnicity, but this story will not be autobiographical.

I have just left working in local government in London after almost 22 years and had been there for so long. I am a part-time university student in my final year, but finish next year as I have been also working fulltime. This year I have studied 'Global Politics and Postcolonial Worlds' and 'Cultures of Consumption'. As a family we also regularly have young children from all parts of the globe come and stay in our home on short stays when they are visiting England. I am a married mother of three children, my son Marlon is 23 and daughters, Hannah 19 and Emily 13. My father (who is part Chinese) came to this country (UK) when he was enlisted to fight in World War II for the British Royal Air Force when the Caribbean as were many other countries, part of the Commonwealth. He and my mother who came here in the 1950s remained thereafter. With my father's work we always moved around and lived for 3 years in Cyprus in the Mediterranean when I was growing up and also I was born in Germany because of this, amongst many, many places in the UK. As a family (I have 6 wonderful brothers and two lovely sisters) we have a multiplicity of ethnicities as we have African heritage in us as well as Scottish, Irish, Chinese and so on... - very global - one world!

On my literary ambitions, I have already paid with a publishing company for book number 2, but am now wondering if I should just try and set up my own publishing company to move with books thereafter. I am keen for far more representation and transparency in our world of children's books globally, and all of my books embrace inclusion and diversity...



~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima

Click here to order "Tópé Arrives" from Amazon.



Thursday, February 10, 2011

3rd African Gas Forum coming up in London

Must read Platts Survey: OPEC Pumps 29.57 Million Barrels of Oil Per Day in January..



10 Feb 2011 04:47 Africa/Lagos


Africangas forum

THE HAGUE, February 9, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Organised & Hosted By: Contact:babette@glopac.com or amanda@glopac.com

Date & Venue: 31st March-1 April 2011, Radisson Mayfair Hotel, London

Register now www.africangas-forum.com

Sponsor Contact: amanda@glopac.com



Separately Bookable Events: Fees Exclude 20% Vat as per UK Law

3rd African Gas: 1 April 2011: GBP 750 per person

3rd Africa Gas Business: Strategy Briefing: 31st March 2011, GBP 995 per person

Combined Fee: Briefing & Conference: GBP 1,450 per person

37th PetroAfricanus Dinner: Thursday 31st March 2011: GBP 250 per person (Members: GBP 150) - Guest Speaker: Dr Alan Stein, Managing Director, Ophir Energy: “Exploring Africa: Reflections From Downunder” – insights from a player with gas discoveries offshore in West and Eastern Africa.


Our 3rd African Gas 2011 builds on our unrivalled track record in and on Africa, deep industry knowledge-base, extensive executive networks across the African Continent and worldwide on Six Continents, direct business and advisory experience in over 45 countries north and south of the Sahara, and over three decades of Advisory Practice and research in the global oil and gas business.


Africa's gas-LNG game has come of age, with over 30 African countries holding gas resources, and 20 now with proven reserves, with more entering into production, and gas discoveries both proliferating and often large, some of world-class dimension. Companies have upgraded their gas portfolio, redesigned strategies and enhanced investments in domestic and pipeline export gas, targeting Atlantic LNG markets and Europe-destined gas consumers, as well as GTL in selected locales, in some instances synfuels for local offtake, and engaged in a widening list of gas-power projects with independent private power, across a range of related cross-border markets. Meanwhile, corporates, investors and financiers now target the gas-rich Maghreb and the Gulf of Guinea (with many gas monetisation projects in the pipeline, along with LNG ventures), Southern Africa's offshore and onshore in shale gas and CBM, as well as the highly-promising East African frontier margins offshore and for onshore gas-power, soon probably to be a focus for potential LNG ventures for Asian markets.

Confirmed Speakers Include:

Tim Okon, Group General Manager, Corporate Planning & Strategy & Chairman, Gas Master Plan, NNPC, Nigeria

Malcolm Brown, Senior Vice President, Exploration, BG plc

Carol Law, Exploration Manager, East Africa & Caribbean, Anadarko Petroleum Corp

Dr Duncan Clarke, Chairman & CEO, Global Pacific & Partners, South Africa

Bolaji Osunsanya, Chief Executive Officer, Oando Gas & Power, Nigeria

Peter Clutterbuck, Deputy Chairman, Orca Exploration, Tanzania

Yasser Tousson, General Manager Finance, Apache Corporation, Egypt

Dr Alan Stein, Managing Director, Ophir Energy, Perth

Steve Mills, Commercial Manager, Petroleum Agency SA, South Africa

Gabriel Bujulu, Petroleum Engineer, Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation

Senior Executive, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation**

Kevin Hart, Chief Executive, Bowleven plc

Scott Aitken, Chief Executive, Seven Energy, Nigeria

Radwan Hadi, Chief Executive Officer, Victoria Oil & Gas

Jeff Greenblum, Chairman of The Board, EnerGulf

Rogers Beall, President, Fortesa International Senegal, Senegaz-Africa Fortesa Corp.

Edwin Bowles, President & CEO, RJ Energy

Semyon Astakhov, Head Africa, TMK Africa

Prior to the Forum is our 3rd Africa Gas Business: Strategy Briefing (Thursday 31st March), reviewing gas assets and portfolio potential in over 100 companies, from Africa and around the world, companies looking for farm-in/outs, new ventures, investors and wider deal-flow. With Presentations by Dr Duncan Clarke, Chairman & CEO, Global Pacific & Partners, Africa's leading strategist, and author on the Continent's oil and gas industry, providing an in-depth & unique set of insights on the gas industry and corporate business strategies, as well as Government gas policies and investment strategies of the National Oil Companies and Licensing Agencies - in the Maghreb, Western, Eastern, and Southern Africa. Delegates receive access online to Presentations, with 750 Images, that reveal the changing shape of Africa's gas game in dynamic evolution, the players involved & their portfolio and how the competitive gas world is shifting, and likely to be the cutting edge of the hydrocarbons industry in Africa over the next decade and beyond.



Source: Global Pacific & Partners


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Monday, September 6, 2010

Nengi Josef Ilagha Writes Queen Elizabeth II on Nigeria’s 50th Independence Anniversary

Majesty Nengi Josef Ilagha, Mingi XII, Amanyanabo of Nembe

News Flash

As Nigeria prepares to celebrate her Golden Jubilee anniversary on October 1, 2010, the London-based Nigerian poet, journalist and broadcaster, Nengi Josef Ilagha, forwards a Royal Mail to Queen Elizabeth II, the constitutional monarch of England who will be marking her Diamond Jubilee anniversary on the throne in 2012. In twelve gutsy, friendly, sober and soul-searching epistles, the author takes the Queen on a revealing ride into the corrupt character and unwholesome habits of a nation on the verge of rebirth, and invites her to push for the restoration of the values that make England a stable and prosperous model.

Told through the perceptive lenses of a poet with a knack for refreshing imagery, the book is an incisive and harrowing testament on the state of the most populous African country, fifty years into its life as a nation, laying bare its shameful inadequacies, and underscoring its hopeful impact on world affairs. Delivered in a lucid, winsome and personable style which dollies in from time to time to undertake a dramatic exposition of the British colonial mentor and life in London, Royal Mail is inspired by Her Majesty’s efficient postal delivery service.

The book promptly finds its place beside Chinua Achebe’s popular 1983 commentary, The Trouble With Nigeria, with the added advantage that it extends its critical antenna to England and finds the colonizer culpable of the political rot in present-day Nigeria, no thanks to the divide-and-rule ethic enthroned by the British under Lord Frederick Lugard’s pioneering tenure as Governor-General of the West African nation. The following is the opening epistle from Royal Mail, published by Treasure Books, Nigeria.


I

City Boy

The men who succeed are the efficient few
- Herbert N. Casson


YOUR ROYAL MAJESTY, I am glad to make your acquaintance. I am led by none other than the hand of God to address this humble epistle to you. I have no doubt that your efficient mail delivery service will bring these words before your eyes in the fullness of time. As you will soon come to understand, I have quite a lot to say to you, and I will say it as the pages flip by, so help me God.

Allow me to begin by congratulating you on your fifty-eighth anniversary in office. That is quite a long time to serve your land and people as Queen. You have been monarch of England for as long as Ron and Don, the world’s most famous conjoined twins have been together, bound by flesh from day to day, minute after minute. I happen to have seen them for the first time on BBC 4 television on the night of March 4, 2010, and it got me thinking. They were born one year after you ascended the throne at Sandringham.

By all accounts, you will be marking your Diamond Jubilee in 2012. I find myself suitably equipped and qualified, therefore, to address you in the twelve epistles that make up this small loaf of bread, even as you come to understand that two of my sons go by the names of Diamond and Jubilee. But let me not get ahead of my story. Let me take one letter at a time, one word at a time, one line at a time, one paragraph at a time, one page at a time, one chapter at a time.

You have been at the head of government for so long, witness to the policies and programmes of Prime Ministers as varied in temperament and carriage as Anthony Eden was from Gordon Brown. Not too long ago, I saw pictures of Winston Churchill, Eden’s predecessor, upon the satellite clouds, delivering excerpts of his famous speeches in the finest manner of a war-time hero. Quote. Let each man search his conscience and search his speeches. I frequently search mine. Unquote.

Your Majesty, do you mind taking a look at your speech to Nigeria on October 1, 1960? Remind yourself of the things you said to the new nation, the promises you failed to keep. I say this advisedly, because I have before me your speech to the Commonwealth delivered on May 8, 2010.

Today’s societies are constantly seeking ways to improve their quality of life, and science and technology play a vital part in that search…Experimentation, research and innovation, mean that more opportunities for improving people’s lives exist today than ever before. Take long distance communication, where the obstacles of time and geography have been dramatically reduced: people can now use mobile phones to be in instant contact virtually anywhere in the world, be it with a medical centre in the Himalayan mountains in Asia, a Pacific island school, a research facility at the South Pole, or even the international space station, beyond this planet altogether.

I share your sentiments, Your Majesty. I look forward to your next speech, the one you will address to the President and good people of Nigeria on their Golden Jubilee anniversary, the one that will pronounce restoration to a long-suffering nation. Suffice it to say, for now, that Nigeria is not some space station beyond this planet. It is a country you once ruled with pride and honour. By virtue of modern communication devices, we can still be reached by phone, in spite of frustrations with the network. But anyone you call up in our beleaguered country will assure you that conditions of living could have been better than they are today. Take it from me.

By and by, it should strike you as a sign that Sir Anthony Eden was the first Prime Minister under your watch. I shall have a lot to say about Eden, the parcel of land upon which the first man and woman were moulded from the mud of the earth. Of course, as a fervent Christian, I take my bearings from the Bible. Now we dwell in the present, listening to the rhetoric of David Cameron and Nick Clegg, to say nothing of the Miliband Brothers. I am a witness to history in the making. I abide with you. I can only say it is your portion to have been so blessed, so revered, so adored for over five decades of your life in prosperity and opulence.

I have no doubt that you have questions of your own bubbling within you right now, questions you wish to direct at me. Verily, verily, I will be only too glad to give ear and hearken, to say nothing of answering them as the days unfold, but I suppose you will let me exhaust myself on the subjects I have set out to address in this long epistle to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II of England. Even so, I cannot proceed without running the full course of the pleasantries which I must not fail to offer, from my meek and gentle self to every member of the Royal Family, acting on behalf of the President and people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

How are you today? How is the Queen Mother? How is Prince Phillip? How is Prince Charles? How is Prince William? And how is Prince Harry? O, how is Princess Anne, the one you sent to represent you at Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos on October 1, 1960? How did you find Nigeria on your maiden visit in the first week of December, 2003? What gift do you have in mind for the country you once colonized, as it marks its Golden Jubilee? These questions popped up in my mind in that particular order on February 6, 2010, when I read in the internet rather belatedly that you were marking your anniversary in Sandrigham. It was remiss of me not to have put my thoughts on paper at the time and date in question, on account of the poor weather. As the saying goes, however, better late than never. I have never been at home with the cold, and I will tell you why. I am a child of the sun, that’s why. At any rate, I have no doubt that your family is in good health and excellent spirits.

Your Majesty, I will do well not to hold back what I have to say to you. If I have rambled round and about the subject up to this point, put it down to a royal habit I acquired since I became king. That last bit of information, indeed, should give you a fair idea as to how I summoned the audacity to extend a few words of hope in conversation with Your Imperial Majesty, as Nigeria marks her Golden Jubilee. Do allow me to whisper this detail in your ear, if you don’t mind coming a little closer. I am His Royal Majesty Nengi Josef Ilagha, Mingi XII, Amanyanabo of Nembe Kingdom. I am also the author of twelve books spanning the full calendar, from January through December, as you may have noticed from the Pope Pen Library that prefaces this book. Glad to meet you.

Time does fly, Your Majesty. Don’t you find it amazing that you have ruled Britain for all of fifty-eight years, that in a couple of years you will be marking your Diamond Jubilee? Isn’t God wonderful to have kept you through the storm of eleven Prime Ministers? Before David Cameron showed up, I was wondering who would be your Twelfth Prime Minister. Now we know that you are overseeing the first coalition government since 1945. May God give you the fortitude and grace to undertake the assignment to the glory of his name.

Lest I forget, let me promptly invite you to my coronation ceremony in the selfsame critical year of transition which marks your Diamond Jubilee. I shall be formally ascending the throne in that capital year, 2012, as King of Eden, better known as Nembe in modern geography. I have no doubt that your entire entourage will be on hand to demonstrate to our land and people what the imperial ceremonies are like, and should be, even in a former colony such as Nigeria. Do bring along your beefeaters, your buffeters, your bagpipes, your puppeteers, your horses, your Metropolitan police and your Imperial Guard of Honour.

Come and stage a carnival as colourful, as grand, as magnificent, as brilliant, as vintage as the one I just witnessed at Nothinghill. Come with your trumpets, come with your bugles. Come and stage a lavish party in Nigeria, beginning from Bayelsa. Come to the Glory Of All Lands. You must come and set a new standard, or at least, revive the memory of our people as to what it means to be part of the British Commonwealth. What is more, I believe you will do well to send word to your worthy counterparts in Spain, Denmark, Jordan and such other countries where the monarchy is still respected as a timeless institution, to grace the coronation ceremony of Pope Pen The First.

There we are! The proverbial cat is out of the bag, out of the proverbial bin, in spite of all the efforts of the Mary Bales of this wicked world. My friends call me Mingi Nengi XII, the Lion King of Nembe. So now you know why I am so conscious of the year 2012. What are your earnest plans for your Diamond Jubilee celebration in 2012? I want to be a part of it all. Well, now we have our bearings right, let us get down to brass tacks, so to speak. But let it not be that I am being presumptuous. It is possible that you cannot quite place Nembe on the map of British history, so I will go so far as to help you.

Fifty-eight years is a long time indeed, Your Majesty. So much has happened. So much more is happening, even as we speak. You may have forgotten certain matters that called for your urgent attention in times past. You may at present be preoccupied with A Journey, the memoirs of Tony Blair. I have my copy in hand as well. I will read it on the Tube, from Golders Green to Finchley, from Finchley to Baker Street, from Baker Street right through to Aldgate. Up and down the Jubilee Line, I will read from Stanmore to Stratford and back, my all-day travel card in my pocket, like a typical City Boy. But let me not digress.

As I was saying, Your Majesty, certain incidents may have become mere figments from the past, as if they never happened. Certain faces may have become blurred in memory. Certain names and dates may escape you from time to time in the course of conversation. I don’t blame you. After all, none of my royal predecessors kept you in remembrance of our abiding relationship as colonizer and colonized, certainly not the last Mingi of Nembe. I do hope that the language you left behind in my country will avail me with the right and proper words to express myself to the fullest, and to extend the great expectations that my subjects back home want you to consider, without let, without hindrance.

From time to time, I shall consult Daniel Ogiriki Ockiya, the reverend gentleman who extensively documented the historic Nembe-British War of 1895 in The History of Nembe, and E.J. Alagoa, Emeritus Professor of History, University of Port Harcourt, author of The Small Brave City-State. The credentials of these noble sons of the soil lie in the fact that they had the presence of mind to record the events of the day as faithfully as they could manage. They deserve trophies from Her Majesty The Queen, as much as many gallant Nigerians who have contributed to the grandeur of England in no small way.

As Nigeria turns fifty, Your Majesty, it is tempting to undertake a comparison of the country you once colonized and check it for critical differences with yours, from the time Britain annexed our parcel of land after the partitioning of Africa in 1884, right up to 1960 when we returned the Union Jack to you through Princess Anne of Kent, right up to the present -- and to see just how far we have come as a nation. I shall promptly fall for this temptation. The internet is my witness. I shall consult it for facts. I shall also do well to conduct a cursory parade of your queenly parks, your royal gardens, your busy highways, your underground network of rails and its workaday population, in order to put in fair perspective the disparities between Lagos and London, between Brass and Brighton, between Nembe and Nottingham.

I want to hail Nigeria, Your Majesty. But I find it hard to do so. I want to hail the profound ideals expressed in the inaugural national anthem composed by Flora Shaw, Lord Lugard’s companion, who first gave us the name Nigeria in an article published in The Times of London on January 8, 1897. Nigeria is not quite the same country you granted political independence in 1960. Take it from me. In the words of one of your famous political theorists, Thomas Hobbes, life in present-day Nigeria is “short, nasty and brutish.” I will tell you why. I am obliged, indeed, to bring you abreast with developments in my beloved country, with particular emphasis on the state of my domain. But if the matters I bring before you in the intervening pages sound confusing, if this epistolary journey upon which we have embarked, qualifies as a mosaic of sentiments trussed up together, without form or order, don’t blame me too much. Put it down to the chaotic temper of my country, the haphazard scheme of existence under which we have laboured, these past fifty years.

Even so, I assure you that our nation is on the verge of rebirth. Good luck has come to Nigeria. There is an inevitable tectonic shift in the political order. I invite you to push for the restoration of the values that make England such a prosperous and stable example, that we might take our cues afresh. I have no doubt that you will give me your fullest attention. I will do well not to bore you, but if I do so at all, put it down to my second-hand acquaintance with the Queen’s English.
I will do well to be reasonable. I will do well to uphold the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God. I pledge not to insult your royal intelligence. I promise to remain faithful to the picture I have studied of my country since I was born into it on December 18, 1963. I am, Your Majesty, a full-grown child of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the best sense of the expression. I will do well to grip my country, literally by the scruff of the neck, and yank it for faith.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, no one can take that divine right away from me.


By His Majesty Nengi Josef Ilagha
Mingi XII, Amanyanabo of Nembe
Bayelsa State, Nigeria

More from the same author.
A Memorial Tribute to a Fisherman, Melford Obiene Okilo
A Perspective on Goodluck Jonathan’s Attitude to Governance While He Was Governor of BayelsaState
King Ilegha Writes to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan On the Trashing of the Nigerian Constitution By Those Who Want to Prevent Him from Attaining the Presidency
A Profile of Goodluck Jonathan, Vice President of Nigeria
"Tattoes Are Forever": A Discussion of Nigeria's Social Ills
Epistle to Maduabebe:A Fictional Portrayal of Corruption in Nigeria



Monday, May 17, 2010

The UK has Europe's Most Mature and Dynamic Online Job Market

17 May 2010 09:45 Africa/Lagos


The UK has Europe's Most Mature and Dynamic Online Job Market

BARCELONA, May 17, 2010/PRNewswire/ -- The UK is the European country with the most online vacancies per worker, with a number 6 times higher than Spain, double the vacancies of France and nearly three times as many jobs as Italy. The UK has 26 jobs per thousand workers, while France has 12, Italy 10 and Spain 4. In terms of growth, it's the country with the second highest increase in the number of jobs posted online after France.


The United Kingdom is the European country with the most mature and dynamic online job market. Even for mid-level or high-level professions, the Internet is often recruiters' first choice when it comes to finding a suitable candidate; something that is not replicated in other European countries, such as Italy. For example, in the first four months of 2010 the top four vacancies on offer were for team managers, sales, developers and technical support.


In the first four months of 2010 the number of vacancies published on the Internet increased around 10% month-on-month. The market experienced an increase of 7% from January to February, with an added increase of 10% between February and March. From March to April, the number of vacancies increased by 15%.


London centralizes around 60% of the job vacancies in the UK - in April the number of vacancies in London was ten times higher than in the second city with most offers, Manchester. The cities that complete in the top five with the most vacancies on offer are Birmingham, Liverpool and Leeds. The growth in London is an indicator of growth in the rest of the country. The growth trend, however, is not reflected in the number of offers in Leeds and Liverpool, where the number of online vacancies has decreased from February onwards.


Trovit, the leading search engine for classifieds in Europe, has a large volume of vacancies from the most important job boards and portals in eleven European countries, which allows it to compare between the different markets.


For further information, please contact Claudio Capitani at c.capitani@trovit.com, +34-93-209-2556


Source: Trovit

For further information, please contact Claudio Capitani at c.capitani@trovit.com, +34-93-209-2556





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