Video and Photos of The Renaissance Man in October 2026

 

EKENYERENGOZI Michael Chima, the Renaissance Man.

No filters.

No enhancement.

No makeup.

No face cream.

Psalm 103 verse 5 is my portion with all the thanksgivings to Almighty God JEHOVAH JIREH for His faithfulness never fails.

Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, also known as Orikinla Osinachi, is a Nigerian author, filmmaker, and digital media entrepreneur born on January 30, 1963. He serves as the CEO of International Digital Post Network Limited and founded the Eko International Film Festival.

Literary Works & Publications
Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima writes across multiple genres including fiction, poetry, political documentation, and industry overviews.

 
Book Title Genre / Focus Core Subjects

His notable literary works span multiple genres, including the NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series, poetry collections like "Children of Heaven" and "The Prophet Lied", "Scarlet Tears of London" and prose, "Bye, Bye Mugabe".

"The Victory of Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian Dream", a political non-fiction on contemporary Nigerian socio-political landscape.
"LAGOS in MOTION" Photo Journalism A comprehensive photo album tracking Africa's largest megacity.

 
Chima has significantly impacted the Nigerian film industry through his documentation of Nollywood history, early initiatives to bring IMAX to Nigeria, and collaborations with the International Chamber of Media & Entertainment Industry in India. He also developed the iPost Nigeria app and manages several online publications.

Media Presence & Public Portals
Chima works extensively via digital storefronts, blogs, and archival channels.
Digital Bookshelf: Readers can track his active catalog and updates through the official Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima Amazon Page.

Publishing Portals: He hosts industry features, community write-ups, and cultural updates across independent blogs like the Nigerian Times and his personal profiles.

Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima has expanded his footprint as a prominent digital creator by actively pivoting into the generative artificial intelligence (AI) filmmaking industry. Operating out of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, he has integrated advanced large language and multimodal models into his workflow, establishing himself as a vocal advocate, thought leader, and practitioner of AI cinema in Africa.

AI Film Industry Involvement & Creative Workflows
Chima positions generative AI not as a threat, but as a "new kind of collaborator" capable of lowering production costs and democratizing cinema. He utilizes tools like Google Gemini to manage the entire cinematic workflow—handling everything from concept design and scriptwriting to production design, cinematography, sound, and final direction.

His AI-driven initiatives and film projects include:
Project / Focus Area Media Format / Tooling Core Description & Impact
LAGOS in MOTION (Completion) Documentary / Google Gemini Originally filmed in 2016 using traditional Sony and Canon DSLR cameras, Chima is completing the project with AI to bypass expensive physical production logistics (such as drone-based aerial videography) from his computer.

Igwekala (Chineke Knows That I Love You) Epic Fantasy Film / Google Gemini An ongoing epic fantasy project rooted deeply in ancient Igbo mythology, designed as a benchmark for culturally expressive, high-concept African AI cinema.

THE INVISIBLE SPY Espionage/Crime Short An AI-generated political and crime thriller tracking global espionage and terrorism networks.

Virtual Actor Development Digital Talent Creation Chima creates and manages his own recurring virtual persona actors (such as Ada Uchendu Michaels, Jessica Michaels, and Nkechi Michaels) for continuous deployment in his hybrid and AI film productions.

BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE

 A short film project in progress exploring the 2021–2023 Horn of Africa drought and extreme agricultural climate shifts.

Thought Leadership & Industry Advocacy
Through his role as CEO of International Digital Post Network Limited, Chima extensively documents the emergence of "Global AI Cinema":

Nollywood Integration: He actively catalogs how the wider Nigerian film industry is adopting generative AI for visual effects (VFX), archiving, hybrid workflows, and local-language digital reconstruction to preserve African heritage.

Workflow Advocacy: 

He regularly publishes articles and technical analyses on his Michael Chima Ekenyerengozi's LinkedIn, tracking the shifting boundaries between text-to-video tools, procedural simulation software, and human narrative judgment.

Global Ecosystem Tracking: 

He bridges developments across global markets, reporting on AI adoption from Hollywood and the European FAST TV connected ecosystems to local initiatives in Bollywood.

AI Model Integration & Virtual Actor Development
Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima approaches generative AI filmmaking as a structured discipline rather than simple prompt engineering. He utilizes a multimodal stack to build, direct, and manage his recurring virtual personas:
Core AI/CGI Segment Specific Tooling & Platforms Workflow Implementation & Functionality.
Directing & Conceptualization Google Gemini Acts as the "AI Assistant Director."

Chima uses it to generate complete screenplays, detail precise physical lens focal lengths, determine optimal camera angles, and establish thematic color palettes.

Virtual Persona Rigging AI-Enhanced CGI Plugins Automates tedious animation stages. He employs machine learning plugins inside traditional pipelines to track facial motion and automate character rigging.

Texture & Visual Consistency Procedural Rendering Engines Solves AI's inherent "hallucination" and geometry-shifting flaws. By leveraging machine learning noise cleanup alongside software like Autodesk Maya or Blender, he maintains visual consistency for his virtual actresses across different camera angles.

Cinematic World-Building Generative Text-to-Video Models Used to generate massive historical backdrops, such as complex crowd simulations or sweeping geographic vistas for his upcoming epic film project on Virgil's The Aeneid.
Distribution & Showcasing Portals
Chima distributes his digital content and hosts industry case studies across several mainstream multimedia frameworks:
Short-Form Cinematic Releases: Completed trailers, experimental AI video clips, and atmospheric scene teasers are shared via the Michael Chima Ekenyerengozi Instagram Page.
Extended Features & Montages: Long-form project collections, cultural film montages, and hybrid live-action/AI experiments are uploaded directly to the Michael Chima Ekenyerengozi Facebook Reels Network.

Industry Updates: Comprehensive project documentation detailing how Nigerian independent creators can bypass expensive studio budgets using AI is published on Michael Chima Ekenyerengozi's LinkedIn Portal.
Would you like to examine the specific structural differences between his AI workflows and traditional Hollywood CGI, or review additional books from his non-AI literary catalog?

Comparing Chima's AI Workflow vs. Traditional Hollywood CGI
The fundamental difference between Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima's generative AI approach and traditional Hollywood computer-generated imagery (CGI) lies in the democratization of capital and the speed of execution. Hollywood utilizes thousands of artists to build worlds frame-by-frame, whereas Chima leverages a single machine to guide machine learning algorithms through the creative process.
Metric / Attribute Chima's Generative AI Workflow Traditional Hollywood CGI Pipeline
Budget Requirements Ultra-low / Democratic. Run entirely from personal computers with standard subscription models. Massive capital investment. Requires tens to hundreds of millions of dollars for render farms and studio infrastructure.

Team Size Single Creator / Small Indie Team. The director manages scriptwriting, camera work, and rendering simultaneously. Hundreds of Specialized Artists. Divided into riggers, animators, texture artists, lighting technical directors, and compositors.

Rendering Speeds Near Real-Time. Text-to-video and procedural cleanup engines process frames in seconds or minutes. Hours / Days Per Frame. Complex physical ray-tracing requires extensive processing time on massive external server arrays.

Character Consistency Algorithmic Seeding. Managed via continuous seed prompts, neural face-swapping, and machine learning cleanup. Manual Keyframing. Hand-crafted structural precision that ensures perfect geometric continuity across hours of film.
Asset Creation Prompt-Driven & Procedural. Generated instantly via multi-modal AI models based on contextual text files. Hand-modeled. Sculpted point-by-point in software like Maya or ZBrush from physical concept art blueprints.
Deep Dive into the Non-AI Literary Catalog.

Before pivoting into generative filmmaking, Chima built an extensive literary foundation documenting African arts, politics, and urban transformation.
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series: His flagship publication series that serves as an essential archival record of the Nigerian movie industry. It charts the growth of Nollywood from cheap home-video VHS tapes to global theatrical distribution, featuring profiles of pioneer actors, economic analysis of film financing, and critiques of distribution bottlenecks.

LAGOS in MOTION: A Photo Album of Africa's Largest Megacity: A piece of visual journalism that captures the rapid urbanization, structural chaos, and cultural resilience of Lagos. The book documents everyday street life, iconic bridges, transport networks, and the sharp socio-economic contrasts within Nigeria's commercial hub.
The Prophet Lied: A collection of political and social poetry that targets systemic corruption, military legacies, and unfulfilled socio-economic promises in post-independence Nigeria. The tone is deeply critical of regional political classes while remaining empathetic to everyday citizens.
Scarlet Tears of London: A drama focusing on the gritty realities of the African diaspora. It breaks down the idealized view of migration by telling the stories of illegal immigrants, psychological displacement, culture shocks, and the economic struggles faced by Nigerians living in the United Kingdom.
 

Banner produced by Google Gemini

MEDIA RELEASE

Literacy Day Marked in Lagos as Solar Tablets Reach Nigerian Classrooms

LAGOS — 9 September 2026

The World Literacy Foundation celebrated International Literacy Day in Lagos yesterday with an event that brought together partners, educators, and youth ambassadors to highlight its initiatives in Nigeria, including the Sun Books and Pen Pal programs.

The attendees included representatives from Sterling Bank, Money Africa, TotalEnergies, Heirs Energies, and Coronation Group. Also present were head teachers from Ikota Nursery and Primary School and El Perez Nursery and Primary School, the education secretary for Eti-Osa Local Government, and Youth Ambassador Rayman Agban.

The event pointed out the urgent need for a new approach to literacy intervention in Nigeria, which has the highest number of out-of-school children globally. According to UNICEF, approximately 18.3 million children are not enrolled in school in Nigeria, with around 10.2 million of those being of primary school age.

Being in school does not guarantee literacy. Nigeria's adult literacy rate is approximately 70 percent, with the most significant challenges found in the Northwest and Northeast regions. Education Minister Dr. Tunji Alausa has pointed out that these two regions have received 80 percent of the country's education donor funding over the past decade, yet they continue to show the weakest educational outcomes.

Sun Books provides solar-powered tablets preloaded with up to 600 e-books, stories, educational games, videos, and audiobooks in both local languages and English. These tablets do not require mains electricity or an internet connection, making them essential for communities with unreliable resources. In addition, teachers receive training when these devices are introduced.

Since its launch in 2014, the program has distributed over 1,000 tablets. In Nigeria, it is active in Rivers State and also operates in Uganda, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.

Andrew Kay, CEO and Founder of the World Literacy Foundation, emphasized that "literacy goes beyond just learning to read; it is a crucial key to unlocking opportunities, reducing poverty, and helping children reach their full potential." He also noted that "millions of young people still lack access to books and the essential support needed for literacy."

The figures behind the concern:

• Nigeria has an estimated 18.3 million children who are out of school, with 10.2 million of this population being of primary school age, according to UNICEF.

• Nigeria's adult literacy rate stands at approximately 70 percent, indicating that nearly three in ten adults are unable to read or write a basic statement, according to the World Bank.

• Learning poverty impacts 64 percent of children in rural Nigeria, compared to 54 percent in urban areas.

• Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates of educational exclusion in the world, with approximately 182 million adults lacking basic reading skills, according to UNESCO.

• Approximately 739 million adults around the world are unable to read or write, according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics.

The Foundation's One Book at a Time campaign encourages people around the globe to contribute $10 to provide a book for a child in need. The goal is to reach 500,000 children, and donors have the option to select Africa as the region where their book will be sent.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of International Literacy Day, which was established by UNESCO in 1966. The theme for 2026 is "Literacy for People, the Planet, and Prosperity."

Learn more.
sunbooks.org
worldliteracyfoundation.org/international-literacy-day
 
Media contact
World Literacy Foundation
info@worldliteracyfoundation.org

The Four Aishas

The Four Aishas : From Lagos To Aso Vila

This is a true life story of the four Aishas I know from Lagos to the Office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in Abuja.

The first Aisha was the beautiful daughter of a Fulani gateman at a two storey residential building on Kalejaiye Street, off the Bajulaiye Road in Shomolu, Lagos.

He wanted me to marry her even though she was only 11 years old and told him that I Iooked like a tall and handsome Fulani man with fair skin and starry eyes. Aisha always accompanied her Yoruba friend of the same age to visit a Yoruba family in our residence, a bungalow popularly known as Morocco Ville in front of the Morocco Bus Stop of the Morocco Road in Shomolu. The residence was owned by the popular Morocco family and was built during the British colonial administration of Nigeria. My family and four other families were tenants in the building of different apartments. The Yoruba families were the Akanbi family, Asigbolusi family and the family of Baba Shadia. 

Aisha often accompanied her friend to visit the Asigbolusi family who knew her parents, Mr and Mrs Ojosu. 

Mr. Ojosu worked in the office of the Nigerian Energy Commission in Ikoyi on the Lagos Island. I visited him when I was one of the youngest national program consultants of the UNICEF at the age of 25 years. We met and became familiar and often had conversations about human development and the challenges of the political leadership of Nigeria. I was already popular after the publication of my book of original poems for Children, "Children of Heaven" by Krystal Publications Limited in 1987 and in 1988, there were reviews on the book by The Guardian and The Punch newspapers and on Radio Nigeria and the public presentation at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) on Victoria Island was on the prime time 7pm news of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) read by Siene Allwell-Brown, one of the celebrated newscasters in the country. Millions of people saw me on TV and millions heard the news on radio and read the reviews in the popular national newspapers. So whenever Mr. Ojosu and his family came to visit the Asigbolusi family, he always had the chance for our intellectual conversations and admired me with the daughter gazing at me with glints of excitement in her beautiful brown eyes. Girls at puberty begin to become affectionate with infatuation of lust and love for any boy and man they like. So I understood her admiration and excitement of always bringing Aisha along whenever she visited. Aisha told her father about me and introduced me to him when I was passing by their residence to visit my relatives in my uncle's two storey house at number 13, Kalejaiye Street. I often saw them as I visited my relatives almost every day.

I had several female friends, including our beautiful hood queen, Chinwe who often visited me and was my favourite girlfriend among other girlfriends.

I couldn't marry an underage girl even though her Muslim parents thought she was ready for marriage in accordance with their Islamic religion since the founder, Prophet Muhammad (puh) married Aisha, the youngest of his 13 wives when she was only a child and ended her virginity when she was only a 9 year-old girl.

The whole narrative of their lives is the subject of my historical fiction, "Unveil Me My Love" which Amazon refused the distribution of the novella, because of the fears of provoking Islamic terrorism like the "Satanic Verses" of the famous Indian novelist and essayist, Salman Rushdie. But another American publishing company published "Unveil Me My Love" and is available by special request. It is only available in hardcover collector's edition.

The romantic narrative of an Abbysian bodyguard and trainer of the soldiers of Prophet Muhammad (puh) who was in love with Aisha. 

https://www.lulu.com/shop/orikinla-osinachi/unveil-me-my-love/hardcover/product-519468.html

The Aisha I refused to marry, because she was  an underage 11 year-old girl is now over 42 years and married with children.

The second Aisha came from war torn Sudan in pursuit of better life in Nigeria. She was black and beautiful and slender like the famous supermodels who were also from Sudan. I met her when she among the pretty ushers at the first credible international film festival in Nigeria, the Lagos International Forum on Cinema, Motion Picture and Video in Africa organized by Independent Television Producers Association of Nigeria (ITPAN) from 2001 to 2006. It attracted local and international filmmakers and supported by the Nigerian film Corporation (NFC) and French Embassy. It started from when Chief Tunde Oloyede was President of ITPAN and continued successfully when Mr. Femi Odugbemi succeeded him as President of ITPAN. Famous Nobel laureate of Literature, Prof. Wole Soyinka and other important dignitaries were at the inaugural edition held at the Maison de France of the French Cultural Centre in Ikoyi.

I was attracted to Aisha and I gave her a phone number to reach me before I left.

Then one day, she called and said she had been kicked out of the flat in 1004 estate on Victoria Island where she had been staying with two Nigerian "runs babes" who were professional escorts. They falsely accused her of snatching their boyfriends.

She was waiting for me at the Yaba bus stop..She was homeless and wanted to come and stay with me. But there was no space to accommodate her where I was allowed to stay in the flat of a good friend in Moshalashi near the Jibowu area, off the Agege Motor Road on the way to Mushin. I would have persuaded my relatives in Shomolu to accommodate her in their two storey house, but they would most likely fight over sleeping with her. She was breaking down in distress and I was really feeling sorry for her. Her last resort was to call David Hivet, the handsome young French Regional Audio-visual Attache based in Lagos whom she met at the ITPAN's international film forum.  So, he came gallantly and rescued the Sudanese damsel in distress.

If I had accommodated Aisha, our first child would have been a grown up adult by now. 

I met the third Aisha when she was an office  assistant of a former friend I worked with as the media consultant for his communication company in Shomolu on the mainland of Lagos State. She was an attractive young woman from Kogi state  who had just completed secondary school and was waiting for the opportunity to go to any of the universities or polytechnics in Nigeria.

She was staying in the nearby Myyoung Army Barracks with her elder sister, a junior military officer married to a fellow junior officer in the Nigerian Army. 

We became close and would have become lovers, but I was distracted by other romantic affairs with more attractive female friends, including Linda Ikeji who was coming to our office in her car and with her laptop.

So, Aisha soon relocated to Akure in Ondo state to stay with her mother and family. She is now married with two kids. 

The fourth Aisha is Dr. Mrs Aisha Buhari, wife of the immediate past President of Nigeria, retired Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR. 

I was invited to meet with her by the Office of the President in 2018 following my request to present my book on her husband, "The Victory of Muhammadu Buhari: My Eyewitness Account of the 2015 Presidential Election".

I borrowed money from close acquaintances to travel to Abuja and paid for three days accommodation in a hotel in Asokoro close to the State House,  Aso Villa. 

I was welcomed to her office and sat down in her own official Office after meeting with the Information Officer, Dr. Haruna Suleiman and her special secretary, Dr. Hajo Sani. I was offered tea which I politely declined and accepted the cans of soft drinks and digestive biscuits. But I couldn't meet with her for three days and I said I would be stranded in Abuja without any more money to stay longer. So, I returned to Lagos in peace.

- by Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
Author of "Diary of the Memory Keeper" and other books distributed by Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other booksellers.

I

WOLE SOYINKA - ENI OGUN, An Accomplished Biopic on the First African Nobel Laureate of Literature

WOLE SOYINKA - ENI OGUN, An Accomplished Biopic on the First African Nobel Laureate of Literature

Joshua Ojo with Prof. Wole Soyinka.

Joshua Ojo's vivid biopic, "WOLE SOYINKA - ENI OGUN"is an outstanding historical film on the phenomenal life of the most lionized African writer, Prof. Wole Soyinka, the first African winner of the highly coveted Nobel Prize for Literature. 

This is the only one of the few films on the life of Soyinka to capture the essence of the spirit of the art and persona of his iconic genius in motion picture. And the first to be produced in his beloved mother tongue of the Yoruba language. The biopic produced to celebrate his 90th birthday is a must see and the film has been authorized by the Nobel laureate.

Official trailer

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m_nA7r4CH50FjxHdNlvaixNv5F44GQI3/view?usp=drivesdk

It chronicled his trials as a fearless sociopolitical human rights activist and triumphs as an intellectual luminary of the literary world with critically acclaimed books of poetry, drama and prose for which he became famous and awarded the Nobel Prize in  Literature in 1986 for with his writings, Soyinka "in a wide cultural perspective and with poetic overtones fashions the drama of existence."

The cinematic beauty of the film with outstanding portrayal of Soyinka by the award winning Nigerian actor, Lateef Adedimeji and other accomplished actors, including Jide Kosoko, Femi Branch, Segun Arinze, Dele Odule, Funky Mallam, Haffiz Oyetoro, Bimbo Oshin, Joke Muyiwa and Olaiya Igwe showed the accomplishments of the director in the art direction with the production design, casting, characterisation, cinematography and soundtracks based on the historical facts of the celebrated author with important emphasis on Ibadan and other locations of his life and the political circumstances of his imprisonment in the Kirikiri Prison for 22 months during the Nigerian-Biafran war from 1967-1970.

"This is my most challenging film production so far. Because of the historical importance and significance of the legacy of Prof. Wole Soyinka, I have to make sure of the accuracy of the sets used for the period in the history of Nigeria. KIRI-KIRI PRISON was built from the scratch in the studios. Soyinka's house was equally built with over 98 percent of the set built by the crew, except for the scenes of the roads and the other scenes shot outside Nigeria," the director said.

"I did the casting myself, because I really wanted actors to look like the real characters in his life. For the production design, I took my time as well to draw and sketch out how I wanted them to look and the guys in that department brought life to it.

I've been to Soyinka's house, so it was easy for me to recreate it."

"I had an accident two days to shoot. I was given two options: either to cut off my right leg or I do an emergency surgery, which I did. And I went back to location a week after the surgery, with an ambulance on stand by everyday. I'll shoot for 2 to 3 days and rush back to the hospital for check-up. That was how we shot for two months to complete the principal photography."

The film certainly is an outstanding achievement in filmmaking in Nollywood and African Cinema. It will attract millions of Yorubas in Nigeria and the Diaspora; especially in Brazil where hundreds of thousands of people are devotees of the Yoruba OGUN traditional religion which Soyinka has celebrated in his life and works. Millions of others who have read his popular plays, novels and essays will be anxious and curious to watch the film subtitled in English and should be widely available in other popular languages for the global distribution.

- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,

The Publisher/Editor,

NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series,

The first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry.

#soyinka

#biopic

#life

#birthday

#wolesoyinka

#nobellaureate

#nobelprize

#literature

#writer

#author

#joshuaojo

#joshua

#filmmaker

#filmmaking

#yoruba

#brazil

#ogun

#religion

#art

#books

#travel

#history

#drama

#nollywood

#nigeria

#biafra

#war

#prison

#ibadan

#humanrights

#africa

Ebrohimie Road: A New Documentary Film on Wole Soyinka Before He Won the Nobel Prize for Literature

 

Ebrohimie Road: A New Documentary Film on Wole Soyinka Before He Won the Nobel Prize for Literature

Ebrohimie Road: A Museum of Memory is a documentary film written, produced, and directed by Kola Tubosun, and shot by Tunde Kelani, about the eponymous location at the University of Ibadan where Nigerian writer/playwright and Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka lived and worked between 1967 and 1972.

Prof. Wole Soyinka with the famous Nigerian filmmaker and historian, Tunde Kelani.

It was from there that Soyinka was arrested in 1967 after visiting the breakaway Biafra that was engaged in a civil war with Nigeria, and it was there to which he returned in 1969 after his release, before leaving for a voluntary exile a few years later.

The film premiered in Nigeria in July 2024 as part of activities to mark Soyinka's 90th birthday, and has continued to screen in venues in the United States, United Kingdom, and elsewhere.

Read the well written review by Toni Kan on https://thelagosreview.ng/ebrohimie-road-from-soyinkas-shrine-to-fashinas-altar-toni-kan/

The title of the documentary should have been Ebrohimie Road: The Metamorphosis of Wole Soyinka.

JAZZHOLE, Me and PLATO's Republic

 JAZZHOLE, Me and PLATO's Republic

Last Wednesday, August 2, 2023, I went to JAZZHOLE, the largest bookstore for the Nigerian intelligentsia located on the Awolowo Road in Ikoyi on Lagos Island of Nigeria.

I often go there to visit Olakunle Tejuosho, the Co-founder and CEO of JAZZHOLE and Glendora Bookshops whenever I wanted to have cerebral moments of intellectual discussion on literature, the reading culture and political leaders of Nigeria.

We are both old boys of the famous St  Gregory's College on the Island where I became a child celebrity at 13 when I won the first prize in a national essay competition followed by the beautiful Elizabeth Banjo, daughter of the famous Emeritus Professor Ladipo Ayodeji Banjo, CON.

I was standing, because I did not want to stay long. But as I decided to sit down, suddenly a hardcopy book fell to my feet from the bookshelf beside me. As I picked up the book, it was PLATO's "Republic"! One of his famous books and an all time classic and one of my favourite books.Written around 375 BCE, it is regarded as Plato's best-known work, and one of the world's most influential works of philosophy and political theory, both intellectually and historically.

This book is highly recommended for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, GCON and Peter Obi, CON

#jazzholelagos

#Chima 

#Plato 

#repubiic

#jazz

#music 

#books 

#literature 

#intellectual 

#stgregory 

#college 

#reading 

#culture 

#politics 

#leadership 

#leaders 

#Nigeria 

#Tinubu 

#peterobi

Something Happened Upstairs

You can never guess what happened upstairs during a stormy night when four robbers came to rob a family in a house in Ikeja on the mainland of Lagos in western Nigeria.

You can read this short story on 

https://www.nairaland.com/808407/something-happened-upstairs

New Nigeria on Pinterest 

www.pinterest.com/nigeriansreport

Books By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima on Amazon

Top Michael Chima Ekenyerengozi titles

Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, aka Orikinla Osinachi, is a prize winning Nigerian writer, most prolific African blogger and the Publisher/Editor ...

https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima

Beautiful Young Woman Hugging"The Prophet Lied"

 Which book is the sultry beautiful young woman hugging?

"The Prophet Lied" by Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima.

https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima

One of the best books of original poems in modern poetry and contains one of the longest poems on Nigeria, "The Nigerian Story Has Never Told Before".

"The Prophet Lied" is my allegorical reply to "The Poet Lied" by the famous Nigerian poet, Odia Ofeimun.

Speaking Out on #Nollywood: Majority of Yoruba Filmmakers Are Intellectual Illiterates

Speaking Out on #Nollywood: Majority of Yoruba Filmmakers Are Intellectual Illiterates

Majority of Yoruba filmmakers are intellectual illiterates and by their movies you shall know them.
They portray Yorubas as fetish and superstitious people with low IQ.
If you watch their movies, you will be scared of having relationship with Yorubas.
They are the largest producers of Juju movies in Africa.

They seem to have forgotten that Yorubas have produced great  intellectual minds; from the greatest Nigerian polymath of modern education, Bishop Samuel Ajai-Crowther to the first black Nobel Laureate in Literature, Prof. Wole Soyinka. And the most outstanding founders of tech startups that are among the Unicorns in Africa are Yorubas. But I have not seen Yoruba movies about outstanding Yoruba geniuses and technocrats of Arts, Sciences and Technology who have achieved success by their education and erudition. All I have seen in over 90 percent of Yoruba movies are fetish and superstitious people using Juju rituals to get rich quick and succeed in life.
Even some of the Yoruba movies and  series showing educated Yorubas in the modern Nigerian society have glaring shortcomings in the characterization and personification of the middle class and upper class Yorubas such as in the TV series of "Hush" of the Africa Magic channels on both DStv and GOtv.
The telenovela about romantic, economic and political lives of Bem and Arinola in fashion and politics. The personality of "Bem" acted by Richard Mofe-Damijo as one of Africa’s biggest fashion designers based in Lagos failed to show any expertise and lifestyle of a guru of the fashion industry. The producers should have studied the personalities of the leading male gurus of fashion in Africa and their knowledge of the fashion industry from Lagos to London to Paris to Milan to New York. They should have consulted Ohimai Atafo and Duro Olowu, two of the top Nigerian international fashion designers. Bem looked more like the owner of a club than owner of a top flight fashion house.
Then "Arinola" portrayed by Thelma Okoduwa as one of the state’s fastest rising politicians did not have the political knowledge and personality of any notable female politicians in south western Nigeria.

- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,

Publisher/Editor, 

NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series 

247 Nigeria (@247nigeria) / Twitter

https://mobile.twitter.com/247nigeria

https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima

#BishopAjaiCrowther #WoleSoyinka #Nobelprize
#nigeria #filmmakers #africa #technology #education #dstv #success #people #tech #gotv #startups #like #fashion #fashionindustry #london #paris #founders #society #designers #Africamagic #movies #series

Camouflage: Best of Contemporary Writing from Nigeria

Camouflage: Best of Contemporary Writing from Nigeria

“…an agenda-setting collection and a major milestone in the history of Nigerian literature only comparable to what Wole Soyinka’s Poems of Black Africa is to students and critics of African literature.”

—Weekly Trust

“…a large-scale anthology… Camouflage spots the work of [71]…writers. Some have already made their name internationally…What is remarkable, though, is how many fine and startling contributions there are from writers who—unlike Adichie and Habila—are still hardly known.”
—The Sunday Independent of South Africa

“…an intricate literary nest woven with straws plucked from Nigeria’s large universe of artistic talents, scattered across the earth.”
— Sunday Sun

“[An] explosive confluence of contemporary voices deployed in various guises and tones to express individual perceptions of the Nigerian situation…a monumental achievement for Nigerian literature.”
— Daily Independent

“[ Camouflage] proves…the depth and richness of contemporary writing by post-Independence generation of Nigerian writers.”
— The Guardian

“…a ground-breaking anthology.”
— National Mirror

“Nigeria’s new writers, delicate and declamatory, intimate and political, immediate and global, imagine themselves into voice in this rich volume. The words are tender, agitated, beautiful, shapely—and breathed directly into the ear. Read this collection to grasp the scope and sophistication of contemporary Nigerian literature, yes, but read it firstly for its pleasures."
— Gabeba Baderoon, recipient of Daimler Chrysler Award for South African Poetry.

CONTRIBUTORS

* Afam Akeh * Adeiza Atureta * Ekene Atusiubah* Omale Allen Abdul-jab bar* Denja Abdullahi * Al-kasim Abdulkadir * Bolaji Adekeye * Wisdom Anierobi * Toyin Alli * Maryam Ali Ali * Felix Obi Abrahams * Pius Adesanmi * Nike Adesuyi * Chimanada Ngozi Adichie * Adolphus II Amasiatu * Amu Nnadi * Seyi Akinlolu * Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima* B. M. Dzukogi* David Diai * Amatoritsero Ede * Victor Ehikhamenor* James Eze * Chiedu Ezeanah* Ismail Bala Garba* Helon Habila* Kamar Hamza* Ogaga lfowodo * Nengi Josef Ilagha * Bina Nengi-Ilagha * Uduma Kalu * Victoria Sylvia Kankara * Toni Kan * Akeem Lasisi * Halima Lawal * Ahmed Maiwada * Mu'azu Maiwada * Razinat T. Mohammed * David Odinaka Nwamadi * Obi Nwakanma* Simeon Chibiko Nwakaudu * Uche Nduka* Angela Nwosu* Maik Nwosu * Nkechi Nwosu-igbo * Onyebuchi Nwosu *Uchechukwu G. Nwosu * Chinyere Obiobasi * Nonye Bethel Obiukwu * Sunday Enessi Ododo * Crispin Oduobok * Patrick Tagbo Oguejiofor * Tolu Gbenga Ogunlesi * Chux Okei Ohai * Sylvester Urdeen Omosun * Ernest Onuoha" Promise Okekwe * Onookome Okome * Ike Okonta * Pita Okute * Bolaji St Ramos* Lola Shoneyin * E. E. Sule * Sumaila lsah Umaisha * Uche Peter Umez * Chika Unigwe * Uzor Maxim Uzoatu * Emmanuel Onyedi Wingate *


ABOUT THE EDITORS

NDUKA OTIONO is an Associate Professor and Graduate Program Supervisor at the Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, in Ottawa, Canada. He is the author and co-editor of several books of creative writing and academic research including Oral Literary Performance in Africa: Beyond Text (2021). Prior to turning to academia, he was for many years a journalist in Nigeria and General Secretary of the Association of Nigerian Authors.

————•❀✼❀•————

ODOH DIEGO OKENYODO is a poet and literary journalist whose collection titled From A Poem to Its Creator was shortlisted for The Nigeria Prize for Literature in 2008. Okenyodo coordinates the World Poetry Movement in Nigeria under the platform of the Splendors of Dawn Poetry Foundation, an NGO that uses poetry to engage development issues for awareness and sustainable behaviour change.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PROF. WOLE SOYINKA The Lion of African Literature

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PROF. WOLE SOYINKA

The Lion of African Literature.

Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka(Yoruba: Akínwándé Olúwo̩lé Babátúndé S̩óyíinká; born 13 July 1934), known as Wole Soyinka (pronounced [wɔlé ʃójĩnká]), is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, human rights activist, actor and filmmaker in the English language and Yoruba. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature.

A #Netflix documentary film on SOYINKA will be a hit from OTT platforms to the cinema. He is the Big Picture of African Literature.
I am the best for the production design of the documentary film.
Netfix, HBO or Amazon should not miss this great opportunity.

The Nigeria Prize for Literature Has Not Improved the Literary Culture of Nigeria

The Nigeria Prize for Literature is the biggest prize in African literature worth US$100,000 to the winner. It is fully sponsored by the Nigeria LNG Limited, that founded it in 2004 for outstanding literary works  by Nigerian authors in Nigeria. 

The prize rotates among four genres; fiction, poetry, drama and children’s literature: repeating the cycle every four years.

I was opportuned to be with the inaugural members of the organising committee during their meeting in 2004, at the Federal Palace Hotel & Casino on Victoria Island, Lagos. I went there to meet with the famous Nigerian novelist, Eddie Iroh and Ms. Siene Allwell-Brown, the famous broadcaster at the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) who was now, the General Manager for External Affairs of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Limited. The Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Nigeria Prize for Literature, Emeritus Professor Ayo Banjo was there. His beautiful daughter, Elizabeth Banjo came second to me when I won the first prize in a national essay competition sponsored by the Pop Magazine for children and teens in 1976.

The Nigeria Prize for Literature is laudable for improving the welfare of the winners. But it has not improved the literary culture of Nigeria. It has failed to achieve what other coveted literary prizes have achieved in America, Europe, Asia and Australia where winning a major prize for literature makes the winner a bestselling author by boosting the celebrity status, increasing the popularity and increasing the demand for the winning author and the winning book like the Pulitzer Prize in America and the Booker Prize in the UK. The news will make local and international headlines and will increase the public appreciation and sales of the books among readers. But contrary to our expectations, majority of literate people in Nigeria don't even know the titles of the winning books of the Nigeria Prize for Literature. If you doubt me, do a public opinion on radio and TV on the streets of Lagos, Abuja and other cities in the country, and you will see how clueless and ignorant majority of Nigerians are about the so called most prestigious literary prize in Africa and the winning books.

What makes it prestigious? The prestige of the worth of the cash prize of US$100, 000 or the intellectual esteem of the winning authors?

The sponsor of the Nigeria Prize for Literature and their public relations company have failed to use the prize for the appreciation of the reading culture which is most vital to the improvement of the literary culture of Nigeria where majority of Nigerians don't read books, except for the  recommended text books for pupils and students. Majority of Nigerians stop reading after graduation and after their professional examinations.

Just handing out US$100, 000 to the author of the book selected as best entry in the national competition is not enough to improve the lives of Nigerian authors and improve the literary culture of Nigeria without making sure that Nigerians read their books and celebrate their literary achievements as examplary role models worthy of emulation in the inspiration for outstanding success in human development and the  advancement of modern civilisation in Nigeria.

Nobel laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka sitting with Adeleke Adeyemi and his wife Wosilat Adeyemi at the event of The Nigeria Prize for Literature award ceremony on February 6, 2012, at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) on Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria. 

The Federal Ministry of Education and ministries of education in the 36 states and Abuja should be involved in the appreciation of the Nigeria Prize for Literature to make recommendations for the winning books to be included in the selections for reading booklists of primary and secondary schools and tertiary institutions. For example, I recommended that Adeleke Adeyemi's Children's story book, "The Missing Clock", that won the Nigeria Prize for Literature in 2011 should be on the reading list for primary schools in Nigeria and in particularly in Ekiti state, the state of origin of the author. And the Federal Ministry of Education should purchase as many copies as possible for distribution to all the public schools in the country. The prize winning authors should have interviews on radio and TV and the governors of their states should celebrate them. 

There should be reading and book signing tours for the winning authors to selected schools and tertiary institutions; to clubs like the Ikoyi Club, Metropolitan Club, Capital Club, Ikeja Country Club and other locations that will increase the appreciation and cultivation of literary culture in the Nigerian society.

- By  Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,

Founder/CEO, WEREAD💕💋

https://bookshop.org/shop/Weread.

Publisher/Editor,

NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series

247 Nigeriia) / Twitter

https://mobile.twitter.com/247nigeria

https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima

Nigeria: Where they do not read books

Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa with over 150 million people of different ethnic groups of which the majorities are Hausas, Igbos and Yorubas.


Nigeria: Where they do not read books

Do you know that more Nigerians in Nigeria are no longer excited about reading and even writing?

Do you know that majority of the members of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) do not buy or read the books written by fellow members?

Do you know that majority of the Nigerian publishers of magazines do not buy or read the magazines published by other Nigerian publishers?

Do you know that none of the authors who won the much coveted Nigeria LNG Prize or other local prizes has become bestselling authors in Nigeria?

Do you know that Nigerians spend millions of dollars monthly on sms and most of the SMS/TXT messages are unprofitable gossip?

Do you know that poverty is not the cause of poor reading culture in Nigeria but intellectual illiteracy and intellectual hypocrisy?

Do you know that majority of youths in Nigeria do not know who is Ben Okri, the youngest winner of the Booker Prize in in 1991 at 32?


Ben Okri


I have seen the book gathering dust abandoned in-between files and other items on the table. The book has not been read for months. I have read my own copy immediately the author gave it to me and I reviewed it on Bookalleria, a literary blog. Bookalleria is one of the few Nigerian literary websites owned by writers who love books, but most of the Nigerian writers hardly visit them. They would rather visit the social gossip blogs or frequent their Facebook that does not have any feature for their writings. Majority of Nigerian writers should be blogging and not wasting quality time posting tissues of the issues of their minutiae on Facebook.

Nigerians now prefer to browse more on the Internet.


Blogging is another form of writing and sharpening the craft of writing as the blog offers more space to express your feeling, thoughts and share them with the rest of the world. Molara Wood, Myne White and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie are Nigerian writers with active blogs and a visit to any of these blogs is worth it, because they are filled with refreshing prose, poetry and drama written and posted by the authors and with interactive conversations with their readers. Unfortunately millions of Nigerians on Facebook and Twitter are ignorant of these blogs and have been missing the most original writings of these writers.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie


Over 800, 000 copies of the books of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie have been sold so far and translated into many languages, but less than 50, 000 copies of the bestselling books have been sold in her native Nigeria the most populous country in Africa with a population of over 150 million and over 20 million are graduates of tertiary institutions. Why have these millions failed to read the books of one of the most bestselling Nigerian writers? Intellectual laziness is common in Nigeria.



Majority of Nigerians do more talking than reading books.


Majority of the literate population only read the compulsory textbooks required to pass their compulsory examinations to acquire the paper qualifications they need to get their dream jobs. After getting these qualifications, they abandon their textbooks and rush into the rat race to catch up with the Joneses of their society.

The next publications they read are the daily newspapers, social gossip magazines and porn magazines. Then they go on Facebook to post the tidbits of their daily routines of their perishable pursuits. They spend hours chatting on the phone, gossiping and spreading rumours on the street, at home and in the workplace.

Many Nigerians love reading newspapers and society magazines and they are often seen crowding news vendors on the street.


Nigerians spend billions of naira on phone calls and text messages, so they cannot claim that they cannot afford to buy the few books written and published by Nigerian authors.

The increasing population of illiterates in Nigeria is caused the intellectual laziness of the majority who do not read books. Because how can people become literate when they hate to read and if they do not read, how can they write? So, the population of those who cannot read and write keeps on increasing daily. And how can they learn when they do not read? How much will they learn from sharing the badly written updates on their walls on Facebook or viewing TV comedies, reality shows or music videos that do not teach them how to read or write, but programmed to entertain more than to educate.


Nigerian pupils and students read for their studies and to pass examinations for the qualifications they need to get their dream jobs and to catch up with the Joneses in their rat race.


We are now embarrassed by appalling reports of mass failures recorded in the secondary school examinations and cases of graduates of tertiary schools who cannot write essays and are not better than graduates of high schools. One scholar said most of the universities are glorified secondary schools.


How can we revive the reading culture in Nigeria?

I remember the late 1970s and 1980s when hundreds of thousands of young and old people discussed and shared thrilling stories from the novels in the popular Macmillan’s Pacesetter series, Longman Drumbeat and Heinemann African Writers series.

“There were no GSM phones then,” said a friend.
“Mobile phones have not stopped American and Europeans from buying and reading over 600, 000 copies of the Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun written by our own Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie,” I said.

I also mentioned that millions of copies of the phenomenal Harry Potter novels of J. K. Rowling have been sold in developed countries where mobile phones and social network sites are not excuses for not reading books!

“Millions of Nigerians copy Western haute couture, music and surfing social network sites, but fail to copy their reading culture,” I said.
My friend was speechless.

Using computers should not stop Nigerians from reading books.


The intellectual disorientation of our youths can be corrected by using the same media of mobile phones and social network sites to make them change their negative attitude to reading. We can use hype to motivate and stimulate their intellectual traits and gradually they will appreciate reading as they see the awesome benefits of a vibrant reading culture.


If over 13, 000 copies of the novels of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie can be sold in Nigeria, and then more thousands can be sold when others are motivated and stimulated to join those who are enjoying the passion of reading her books and they will soon be adding more books on their reading list.


Now, 75 years later in an abundant society where people have laptops, cell phones, iPods and minds like empty rooms, I still plod along with books.
~ Harper Lee, author of "To Kill A Mockingbird" on May 7, 2006.


~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima

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