This morning we were at the French Consulate in Ikoyi for a visa appointment and Fidelis Duker, the COO of the Abuja International Film Festival was there as well. Supple magazine and a selection of Nigerian newspapers have been given press accreditation for the forthcoming 62nd Festival de Cannes. Fidelis Duker is one of the most hardworking professionals doing their best for the sustainable development of the $236 million Nigerian film industry.
The Cannes Film Festival is the biggest and most popular film festival in the world and attracts the top stars of Hollywood and Bollywood to the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes south of France every May, but most of the so called leading stars of Nollywood are ignorant of Cannes. Supple magazine is going to convene the first forum on Nollywood and the Cannes film Festival to inform the Nigerian actors, actresses, marketers, and the general public on the film festival and why Nigeria should not be left of the competition at Cannes. Our goal is to challenge Nigerian filmmakers to compete for the highest honors at the Festival de Cannes.
Re: The Untold Story Of Distributing Newspapers And Magazines In Nigeria « #1 on: April 18, 2009, 01:44 AM »
What can I say, Oriks? You hit it right on the button.
I admit, I'd rather borrow a newspaper to read than buy one myself - in fact, until a few years ago, the first things I looked for whenever I encountered a newspaper were crossword puzzles and cartoons. Honestly, I can't even remember when last I bought a newspaper. As for mags, I've never bought one in my life - never! - and yet I write short stories and poems. I even published a novel last year. Says it all, doesn't it?
Perhaps it has to do with the way one is brought up; my dad stopped buying papers when I was like eleven - harsh times, not enough spill-over "change" to spend on such luxuries anymore. I wouldn't have noticed if not the sudden unavailability of newspaper cartoons. After that, the only other times I really missed not having newspapers and mags around were in college; at least once every term, some hair-brained teacher would saunter into the class and ask us to look some issue in the newspapers, or (even more often) to just cut out some certain pictures from magazines and put 'em up in a card-board paper album. Sic!
But about the "Nigerian" tendency to borrow rather than buy tabloids, I think it is more than just the natural inclination to take advantage of an "awoof" - going over to the paper-stand and "paying-as-you-read", rather than buy the entire caboodle. Really, it goes beyond that - its the internet and cable TV. Switch on the TV or click at a link online, and Eureka! you get all the information and whatever else you ever wanted.
Three months, an free online magazine I subscribe to (Hackwriters.com; you probably know it) announced that it was going belly-up. The magazine accepts write-ups from subscribers and publishes select ones every month on real, hard copy publications (like you do, Oriks); the editor uses the proceeds to keep the mag and the website afloat. Then sometime in February, I get this mail saying there won't be any March publications; reasons: low sales, can't keep up with all them blog sites and online forums. I never bought a copy of the mag myself (thing was sold in USDs, darn expensive, plus I have that habit with mags, you know ), but what about them britons and americans? If even they won't buy mags and papers no more, then there's a lota trouble. And you know else? It's not just the Punch and other Nigerian papers that are recording all time lows; LA Times, Chicago Tribune, you know 'em, they are all low on sales, too - I think I posted something on that sometime ago . . .
Anyway, to cut down a long winding tale to a short winding one, it's not just the "pay-as-you-read" and "read-and-dash-me" syndrome (they contribute, yes, that has always been the status quo, even back when Punch was selling 200,000 copies); CNN, DSTv, Google, Bloggers and yes, even our own dear Nairaland have contributed more. Remember, over 70% of the newspaper buyers and almost 90% of the magazine buyers in Nigeria are either in or above the middle class, and these folks DEFINITELY won't stand at a news-stand to "pay-as-you-read".
The British Secretary of State for Business Hails the Accelerated Construction of Dubai Metro, RTA Drive towards Mass Transport
Dubai, April 17, 2009 /PRNewswire/ — Roads & Transport Authority - Mohammed Al Munji:
H.E. Peter Mandelson, the British Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, praised the use of the latest technologies in Dubai Metro Project, and lauded the deluxe finishing of the metro coaches & stations. He also praised the efforts of Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) in expediting the construction of this vital project in a record time. He stated that RTA was bound to complete and deliver Dubai Metro ahead of schedule judging by the fast pace of construction works in the project.
The above statement was made by the British Minister, in a meeting he and the accompanying visiting delegation held with H.E. Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the RTA. The meeting explored ways and means of boosting relations and the exchange of expertise between the RTA and the British organizations engaged in roads & transport sector.
Al Tayer briefed the visiting British Minister on the details of Dubai Metro Project comprising the Red and Green Lines. He explained that the Red Line extended 52 km (5 km of which are underground) and consisted of 29 stations: 4 underground (Burjuman, Union Square, Riqqa and Port Saeed) and 25 elevated stations; including 2 stations at Dubai International Airport. He added that the Green Line extended about 22 km (10 km of which are underground) and consisted of 18 stations; 6 of which are underground stations.
The British Minister also reviewed the details of the deluxe and luxurious designs & finishing of Dubai Metro stations. Commenting on the stations Al Tayer said: "Dubai Metro has 48 stations one of them is the Union Square, the world's biggest metro station spanning an area of 25,000 square meters. The Station, which is one of key intersection stations of the Red and Green Lines, consists of two levels, extends 230 meters in length and 50 meters in width, and is situated at a depth of 18 meters. The Station, which comprises commercial outlets & service locations for metro users, has two entry points equipped with lifts & escalators. Four tunnels branch out of the Station bound to Burjuman & Riqqa Stations on the Red Line, and Bani Yas & Salah Uddin Stations on the Green Line. Burjuman Station, which is the other intersection station of the Red and Green Lines, has four entry points equipped with escalators & lifts".
H. E. Mattar Al Tayer then accompanied H.E. Peter Mandelson, the British Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform in a tour of the Trade Center Station on the Red Line, where completion rate touched 80%. The Station has a capacity to handle 11,000 passengers per hour per direction. It extends 130 x 30 meters and has two entrances equipped with escalators and lifts.
Dubai Metro Stations are fitted with platform screen doors synchronized with the train door opening and closing mechanism in order to provide the highest levels of passenger comfort, safety and security as well as preserving the efficiency of the air-conditioning system operating in the interior of both stations and train carriages from the external climatic impacts. Most stations are linked with air-conditioned footbridges providing roomy corridors for public crossing over Sheikh Zayed Road. These crossings, which are fitted with travellators and boast high quality finishing, are bound to revolutionize the culture of linking and interacting between pedestrians and the city. Ultimately they are set to boost the drive towards minimizing the reliance on using private vehicles.
At the end of the meeting, Al Tayer invited the British Minister to attend the launch of the first stage of Dubai Metro passenger service slated for 09/09/2009.
Contact Details: Roads & Transport Authority P.O.Box: 118899 Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Tel. : 00971 4 2844444, Fax : 00971 4 2065555 Call Center : 8009090 info@rta.ae
Contact the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of Nigerians Report Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima publisher@guarantysuccess.com Tel: 234 07066379246
Nigeria's El-Rufai a Victim of Trial by Headline, Say Lawyers
Crass tactics of intimidation and slander against Nasir el-Rufai reveal political persecution by the State, argue defense lawyers
LONDON, April 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a statement that represents the views of Amsterdam & Peroff:
Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, the highly regarded former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FTC), Abuja, Nigeria, has been relentlessly targeted in recent weeks by state-controlled media with aggressive slander and false accusations, prompting his international defense team to denounce this "trial by headline."
Viewed as a popular potential political competitor, the Nigerian government has initiated a politically motivated investigation against El-Rufai, which is ironically being carried out by the once-respected Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), presenting a slew of implausible charges related to his exercise of discretion to allocate land in accordance with Nigeria's Constitution and the Land Use Act, during his tenure as Minister of Abuja between 2003 and 2007.
"The EFCC's ongoing attempts to slander and taint the reputation of El-Rufai are not indicative of a legitimate case, but rather illustrate their fear and willingness to violate the law in persecuting a potential political opponent," said Robert Amsterdam, a Canadian lawyer on the international defense team. "There are few other individuals who have opened themselves up to such a high level of scrutiny, and even fewer who have testified before Senate hearings and published lengthy responses to even the most absurd allegations."
The false accusations against El-Rufai attempt to argue that in his duties as FCT Minister he was allegedly responsible for improper allocation of land. However, any review of the records in Abuja, (FCT) clearly show that all beneficiaries of these alleged parcel distributions were ordinary Nigerian citizens, and that El-Rufai's conduct was strictly in accordance with the laws of Nigeria and the objective of the restoration of the Abuja Master Plan and the City's economic revitalization.
"In many countries, Nasir El-Rufai's excellent stewardship of the Abuja region would receive accolades and admiration," said Chief Rotimi Akeredolu SAN, the lead Nigerian defense lawyer on the case. "Unfortunately, in our country today a capable and ethical politician like El-Rufai is persecuted to stamp out any alternative opinions, while those who have looted the treasury walk free on the streets."
The defense team for El-Rufai vigorously denounces the government's slander campaign of false accusations, and announces that a new international campaign will be initiated to bring justice to this case, highlighting the unlawful actions of the EFCC in pursuing groundless, political cases.
Source: Amsterdam & Peroff
CONTACT: James T. Kimer for Amsterdam & Peroff, +1-917-355-0717, james.kimer@ksocialmedia.com
Distributing newspapers and magazines in Nigeria is not an easy task, because there is no good infrastructure for the distribution of newspapers and magazines in the 36 states of the most populous country in Africa. With a population of over 140 people, Nigeria is the largest market in Africa and there are over 65 million users of GSM phones in Nigeria spending over $78 million weekly on phone calls. This awesome population of millions of people can afford to read newspapers and magazines if you know how to reach them daily, weekly or monthly.
We can attract some millions of the over 65 million users of GSM phones to buy newspapers and magazines if we can convince them to appreciate the fact that buying and reading more newspapers and magazines will be of great benefit to sustainable development of the Nigerian press and very important to nation building. It is possible.
I have been in Lagos city since last August, working with the Publisher of the new Supple magazine and following him to supply thousands of his magazine to distributors and vendors
We have to wake up early at 5 am and drive to the office of the Newspapers and Magazines Distributors Association of Nigeria on the Marina in Lagos, where scores of distributors and vendors gather everyday by day to share and circulate newspapers and magazines of all sorts.
They get to their workplace at dawn and I have seen them using candle lights in their large warehouse when there was a power outage. I have seen many young women among the young and old men carrying and sharing newspapers and magazines with total professional concentration. These conscientious Nigerians make me proud of being a Nigerian whenever I see them at work even in the dim candlelight. I wonder if some of them have taken their bath before leaving their various houses and rushing to their daily workplace before 5 am!
After supplying to them, we move on to Ikeja to supply to our distributors in the state capital. We also supply hundreds of copies of Supple magazine to the other distributors and vendors in other states through the distribution network of the National Daily newspapers.
Until you have handed your publications to the vendors you will not rest, because without these vendors your newspaper or magazine will not be well distributed all over Nigeria.
The Punch is the largest circulating newspaper in Nigeria and believe it or not, the circulation is not up 100, 000 copies daily in a country with over 140 million people! The irony is the fact that The Punch was circulating over 200, 000 copies daily when the population of Nigeria was less than 120 million people. Why?
Many reasons have been given for the gradual drop in the figures of copies of newspapers and magazines sold in Nigeria. But the truth is the figures of the readers have not dropped over the years. In fact, the readers have been increasing, but the majority of them do not buy the copies of newspapers and magazines they read daily. They have been sharing the copies bought by their colleagues in the workplace or neighbours and thousands more actually pay less to the vendors to read the newspapers on the spot and then drop them and many of these copies have been returned as unsold to the publishers.
If you are in Lagos city or other urban towns and cities in Nigeria, you will notice small crowds of people milling around news stands of vendors and gazing at the covers of the displayed newspapers and magazines. Many of them read the headlines and first paragraphs on the front pages and others pay less then the cover price to read more pages of the newspapers before leaving the spot. The vendors have nothing much to lose if the copies of these newspapers passed round among so many “on the spot” readers are returned unsold, because they make extra money from these passersby on each copy of the various newspapers and also collect their daily commissions from the distributors or publishers. In fact, some publishers use shortcuts to bypass the major registered distributors and engage the vendors to sell their newspapers and magazines directly to the readers on the street. The publisher of the Castle real estate and property newspaper employs his own vendors. The Guardian and The Punch also have their own vendors.
Millions of Nigerians will prefer to pay less to read fewer pages of newspapers and magazines than to pay more for more pages, because most of them will read only what attracts them and skip or glance over the adverts and other uninteresting things before dropping the newspapers and magazines. Most of them are interested in reading sensational breaking news on politics, crime and social gossip of romantic or erotic scandals and the millions of applicants prefer to look for vacancies and that would be all. Therefore, I can bet that newspaper of only 10 pages on these topics selling for as little as N50 will sell more thousands of copies than The Punch or The Guardian of 50-100 pages. In fact, they regard most content as garbage and the less garbage or page fillers the better for them.
~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima is the Media Consultant of Supple magazine and the President/CEO of International Digital Post Network, LLC.
Taxpayers didn't cause this economic crisis, but we sure are paying the price.
Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis leads the way in the predatory, self-serving culture that gets executives rich at the expense of everyone else.
In just two weeks, Bank of America's shareholders will meet to decide CEO Ken Lewis' future at the company. Our government - and by extension, taxpayers - are the single biggest shareholder of Bank of America's stock.
This is our chance to send a message that it's time for Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis to go.
We're asking you to sign a "taxpayer's proxy card" to show your support for firing Lewis and reforming Bank of America - and we'll deliver it directly to Bank of America.
Banks like Bank of America built a business model on screwing customers, pushing dangerous products, and burying customers in more and more debt. It would be bad enough if Ken Lewis' Bank of America just screwed its customers and taxpayers. But that's not all - the company also screws its workers.
Just days after receiving its first $25 billion bailout, Bank of America was caught hosting a conference call to defeat the Employee Free Choice Act - legislation that would help all working people, including Bank of America employees.
Enough. We need real reform, and it's clear Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis is part of the problem, not the solution. It's time for taxpayers to tell Ken Lewis to go.
We'll be in touch over the next several weeks about how we'll escalate our campaign to fire Ken Lewis. It's the kind of change our country and our economy so desperately need.
Thanks for all you do.
In solidarity,
Stephen Lerner SEIU.org
P.S. Mark your calendars - save the date on April 28th for a big action related to our campaign.
Dele Momodu’s Photo Album and Other Stories from Nigeria
The title of this article is not the title of my new collection of short stories and you will not find it in The Thing Around Your Neck, the first collection of short stories by the celebrated Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This is my focus on the craze for scrapbooks of pictures by many Nigerian printers and publishers who have joined the bandwagon of the copycats of Dele Momodu’s Ovation magazine.
I loved Ovation when there was something to read in it. That was when Ovation had interesting features and even good fiction as well and was like the Nigerian version of Hello and OK magazine until the Nigerian publisher Dele Momodu decided to turn it into the Nigerian photo gallery of both the stinking rich and not so stinking rich people in Nigeria. Well from reliable sources, Dele Momodu took that decision, because most Nigerians prefer viewing photo albums of the rich in their Nigerian society and gossip about them to reading articles and fiction. Majority of Nigerians are actually intellectual illiterates or semi literates who have no brains for serious reading, except the compulsory textbooks they must read to pass their academic and professional examinations and once they have passed the examinations and acquired the certificates by hook or by crook, they push aside their textbooks and rush for the gossip tabloids and photo albums circulated all over the place in Nigeria.
Any dummy can copy and paste photographs on blank pages of white paper and print them for sale. But as we can see, gazing at the pictures of the Nigerian aristocrats and plutocrats does not add any value to the society and will not transform any non-literate to a literate person. What we need most now is the revival of the reading culture and increase the scholarship of Nigerians.
The proliferation of scrapbook journalism in Nigeria is doing more harm to Nigerians, because these photo albums are making Nigerians to become lazy readers and breeding a generation of intellectual illiterates.
I read newsmagazines such as Tell and The News and I also read the tabloids as well and they can be very hilarious and humorous. Imagine the National Encomium calling the Academy Award winning Americanactor, producer, and directorForest Whitaker African-American Nollywood actor? Then the Editor Azuh Arinze of the local Nigerian tabloid called Nigerian publisher and celebrity blogger Linda Ikeji garrulous!
It is a tragedy that in a population of over 140 million people, a prize winning book like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun did not sell up to 20, 000 copies in Nigeria, but pornographic magazines and music videos sell over hundreds of thousands of copies. We see a generation of intellectual retards and dullards who would rather be lip-synching do me; I do you and chorusing monotonous pornographic jargons of female buttocks than be caught reading best-selling Nigerian books of genius.
That is why I was shocked to find out that most of the students in tertiary schools in Nigeria do not even know who is Leke Alder or Chris Abani and they did not even know that Kaine Agary won the last Nigeria LNG Prize for Literature for her melodramatic prose in Yellow Yellow! But they have spent millions of naira to download ring tones of psychedelic songs and pornographic musical videos. Nigerians who will not spend ordinary N500 to buy a good book to read will spend over N2, 000 daily to make GSM phone calls. What a shame!
Pastor (Mrs.) Delight Chikezie is the woman of God from the East who has been called to minister and bring divine deliverance to the poor and needy widows in Eastern Nigeria and other places and to heal the sick and comfort the broken hearted. She is happily married with five children who are glad and grateful to the Almighty God Jehovah for what He is doing in their family and for using their mother for His awesome miracles with signs and wonders following her wherever God has led her.
She was in Lagos to ask her cousin Hope who is the Publisher of Supple magazine in Nigeria to produce 3, 000 copies of the poster of her forthcoming deliverance crusade in Umuahia, Abia state and she shared the divine rhema of her ministry with me. I told her that obedience to the command of God is better than sacrifice and recalled how God gave me the grace to preach on public transport buses in Lagos city for 11 years, working as a project secretary in the office of Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) and how I also enjoyed the company of fellow Christians in preaching the good news and planting churches on Bonny Island in Rivers state. She told me about the horrible and terrible human sacrifice made by the politicians in their cult in their desperation for power and wealth.
“Many virgins were murdered in their human sacrifice and in fact a young man was burnt alive in one of their cultic rituals,” she said. I was shocked that such demonic rituals were done in my state of origin. She disclosed the identity of the great harlot holding the political leaders captive in Abia state. Her harlotry and sorcery have been used to rule and ruin Abia since her son became the governor. She is the High Priestess of a goddess worshipped by her devotees and the politicians in her cult. The woman of God from the East said that God is already exposing the occultists and destroying their evils to deliver Abia state.
Hope had to delay other printing jobs to respond to the urgent order of the woman of God from the East and within 16 hours, his Art Director produced the camera ready artwork of the poster and Hope printed the 3, 000 copies of the poster, because he cannot delay the work of God for the benefit of our Abia state and the rest of Nigeria. The printer worked from afternoon to 9.30 pm and we had to carry the copies of the poster and the woman of God from the East to the branch of her church near the NNPC depot in Ejigbo, Lagos. She told us that she had forgotten her bag in our production office in Shomolu. We got to Ejigbo at 10.30 pm and after dropping the woman of God from the East, we left for our residence in Ifako, Lagos and got there at about 11.25 pm. I was glad and grateful to the Almighty God for granting Hope the grace to do this divine assignment to support Pastor (Mrs.) Delight Chikezie. She came to our office the following day to collect her bag and prayed for us before she left.
Later, I met with a pastor who was one of those consulted by Theodore Orji, the governor of Abia state during his power tussle over the gubernatorial post with Chief Onyemma Ugochukwu of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). The pastor told me that he had to travel all the way from Lagos to the Federal Court of Appeal in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, to take some portion of the soil from the grounds of the court and returned to Lagos to pray for the defeat of Chief Onyemma Ugochukwu.
I asked him why he prayed for the success of the governor of Abia state who is an occultist. He could not give me any word to approve or justify what he did. I knew that he had done so to get favours in return from the governor. I asked him if it would be righteous to accept ill-gotten money from an evil man? He agreed with me on rejecting ill-gotten riches from evil people, because God said we must not accept evil goods and in fact, we must not eat of their dainties.
The pastor confirmed what Pastor (Mrs.) Delight Chikezie disclosed to me on the occultists holding Abia state captive and that they were led by the mother of the former governor whom he called the most powerful witch in Nigeria. I told him that we should expose this so called most powerful witch and the evil occultists in government in Nigeria. The pastor warned me that it would not be wise to dare them without having the powers to do so, because they would attack and destroy anyone who would dare them.
Why the Yorubas Are Ahead of the Igbos in the News Media in Nigeria
The Yorubas deserve kudos for the sustainable development and advancement of the news media in Nigeria since the 19th century to date.
Yorubas have used their newspapers and magazines to propel political awareness and boost the entertainment industry in Nigeria. Such newspapers as The Punch, The Tribune and PM News and newsmagazines like The News and Tell and entertainment/celebrity newsmagazines and tabloids like the Fame, City People, National Encomium, Global Excellence and others have made more Nigerians to be politically wiser and made the entertainment industry to boom by reporting and promoting Nigerian entertainers.
The point of this short article is to note why the Yorubas are actually ahead of the Igbos in the printing and publication of newspapers and magazines in Nigeria. An Igbo publisher noted the following observations.
1. Igbos do printing and publishing like they do their cash and carry trading commodities business without being patient to go through the gestation and treadmill of the printing and publishing of newspapers and magazines, because they want quick return on investment in their usual get rich quick methods of business. Therefore they have abandoned their newspapers and magazines.
2. Yorubas are more cooperative among themselves in the news media whereas the Igbos are more competitive for selfish aggrandizement and titular pursuits.
3. The average Yoruba renders assistance without exploiting you, but the average Igbo hardly renders assistance without exploiting and taking advantage of you. The Igbo printer or publisher has what I call the Shylock Syndrome.
4. The Yoruba apprentice believes more in service than the Igbo apprentice.
5. Igbo printers and publishers are very stingy whereas the Yoruba printers and publishers are gracious and generous and they pay more salaries to their employees and treat them better than the Igbo printers and publishers.
6. Yorubas in the advertising agencies have also supported the Yoruba printers and publishers by giving them adverts.
7. Yoruba printers and publishers of newspapers and magazines are more democratic than the Igbos from the newsroom to the boardroom.
8. Yorubas read more newspapers and magazines than the Igbos.
