5 Feb 2011 01:55 Africa/Lagos
Sony Pictures' Face of the Fan® Begins Casting Call for Lead Role in Screen Gems' Mortal Instruments
PR Newswire
CULVER CITY, Calif., Feb. 4, 2011
CULVER CITY, Calif., Feb. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Think you've got what it takes to play the male lead in Screen Gems' film adaptation of Cassandra Clare's best-selling series, Mortal Instruments? If you can play age 18-25 and think you're right for Jace Wayland, you just might land the part through Sony Pictures Entertainment's Face of the Fan®, an initiative for finding new talent, which has launched a casting call for the film.
By visiting www.FaceOfTheFan.com, users nationwide can now participate in this casting call, which launched on Friday, January 28th. The audition consists of the user's contact info, a headshot photo, and a video (two minutes or less) of the person auditioning in which he answers a question: "Why are you the right person to play Jace Wayland in the upcoming movie?" The audition submission process will end on February 25th.
When asked to describe the Jace Wayland's character, the book's author, Cassandra Clare wrote: fighting, hunting, and killing demons are the things Jace is good at. Though the jagged scars and black runic marks on his body are a badge of honor as far as he's concerned, he keeps a lot to himself – like the fact that his parents were murdered by Valentine's servants in front of him when he was ten years old. There are a lot of things Jace doesn't talk about — until he meets Clary, a mundane girl who might see him better than he can see himself. The connection that binds them will force Jace to confront the black secrets of a past he never wanted to remember. The film version of Cassandra Clare's popular book series is currently in active development with Screen Gems and the theatrical release is anticipated in the coming year.
Face of the Fan® launched in November 2010 with a casting call for Screen Gems' and Lakeshore Entertainment's successful action franchise Underworld. Users from across the country logged onto the website, downloaded select pages from a script to rehearse, and then uploaded their audition video and other credentials for submission. The submitted videos were then reviewed by a panel of studio and production executives and selected participants were considered by casting agents for future roles. The site also helped users spread the word and expand the conversation by providing them with the tools to share the programs with their family and friends through social networking.
The concept for Face of the Fan® builds on several past initiatives from Sony Pictures, in which uber-fans were chosen to participate in various marketing-related activities. Whether meeting talent on the red carpet, interviewing them at Comic-Con, or becoming guest correspondents covering the movies, these contests allowed the winning fans to get close to actors and filmmakers like never before and share their experiences online with their friends, family, and other fans.
About Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE's global operations encompass motion picture production and distribution; television production and distribution; home entertainment acquisition and distribution; a global channel network; digital content creation and distribution; operation of studio facilities; development of new entertainment products, services and technologies; and distribution of entertainment in more than 140 countries. Sony Pictures Entertainment can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.sonypictures.com.
SOURCE Sony Pictures Entertainment
CONTACT: Pat Shin, Publicist of Sony Pictures Entertainment, Pat_Shin@spe.sony.com
Web Site: http://www.sonypictures.com
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Nigerian women have better taste than Nigerian men in romance
Photo Credit: The Serene Bride
Nigerian women have better taste than Nigerian men in romance
If you take time to examine the relationships of Nigerian women and men, you will find out that the women are more intelligent and sophisticated in their choices than the men.
Nigerian husbands are the most likely to be caught sleeping with their housemaids to catching Nigerian wives sleeping with their houseboys or servants. Meaning Nigerian men can sleep with any girl or woman, but Nigerian women cannot sleep with just any boy or man.
A Nigerian male executive with all the "Big Boy" status and swagger can rush to pull down his pants to have sex with the impressionable "Agege Bread" seller or Orange hawker even if she is dirty. But the Nigerian "Big Girl" will not even be caught flirting with any boy or man beneath her status or the class of her peers.
I have seen Nigerian "Big Boys" chasing what we call “bush meat” or half educated girls and women they can intimidate for cheap sex.
They resort to these cheaper options when the "Big Girls" bluff or rebuff them. So, they look for the poor secondary school leaver or undergraduate they can easily get with their cheap gifts and treats.
If the Big "Nokia" or "Blackberry" babies are playing hard to get, they might as well go for the poor babes who have little or no choice.
Like in Lagos city in Nigeria, the poor pretty ones from the ghettos of Mushin, Ajegunle and Shomolu are cheaper and easier for the "Big Boys" than dating the rich pretty babies in the upscale middle class Surulere, Ikeja, Anthony and upper class Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Lekki.
You can pose for the poor ghetto babies they can impress and brag about travelling to America or the UK, but not to the rich babies who spend their holidays and go for shopping trips in America, the UK, Spain, Italy and other fashionable destinations.
Nigerian "Big Girls" are more informed on the latest trends in vogue and have acquired more highbrow sophistication than the Nigerian "Big Boys" who in most cases are upstarts anyway. You see "Big Boys" who cannot even speak good English. So, they would prefer "toasting" the less educated poor girls to bending backwards to impress the more cultured "Big Girls".
~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima
Dear Nigerians, Pastor Tunde Bakare is a Brave Man
Pastor Tunde Bakare
Dear Nigerians,
I have seen that many of you are really confused over the controversial decision of the popular radical Pastor Tunde Bakare to be the running mate of retired General Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate for the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).
Muhammad Buhari
The man has taken a decision and he has the constitutional and fundamental human right to do so.Accept it or take a walk and go round the bend if you like.
The man is brave to take such a plunge.He is better than the noise makers who prefer to throw stones from the sidelines without taking the bulls by the horns.
The problem with the majority of those attacking him is THEY DO NOT READ OR THEY HAVE BEEN READING THE WRONG BOOKS. So, they have either misunderstood the teachings of the Holy Bible by misquoting and misinterpreting it or they have low intelligence to understand the astute and resolute Pastor Tunde Bakare whose pragmatic personality is not in doubt.
To separate the goats from the sheep, I repeat that there is absolute nothing wrong with Pastor Tunde Bakare’s decision.
“1″, In Nigeria the worst of us are leading the best of us!,
2, Umaru yar’adua our first Nigerian graduate/lecturer president is a round peg in a square hole, he is totally unfit to lead this nation!,
3, Yar’adua could not careless whether Nigeria is sick or healthy as he is battling with his own health, an honest man would have thought that he owes his nation the duty to say that he does not have the mental capacity or the energy to continue to lead,
4, I am still watching and waiting to see where, this tree of ibori will fall, until those daylight robbers who have stolen this nation blind are dealt with don’t listen to anyone who says there’s a campaign against corruption,
5, The PDP will be derailed one of these days, ” ~ Pastor Tunde Bakare, Nairaland, 22 Nov 2009.
Pastor Tunde Bakare is a patriotic Nigerian of candour, honour and valour.
Every one who registers to vote is already involved, including the other ministers of God who are hiding behind the pulpit and afraid to declare where they stand.
~ By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima
Friday, February 4, 2011
Protest swells in Cairo
Thousands of anti-government protesters gather in Cairo's Tahrir Square as Egyptian troops bar pro-Mubarak loyalists from entering. Katharine Jackson reports.
© 2011 Reuters
4 Feb 2011 18:10 Africa/Lagos
Statement by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on current the situation in North Africa
GENEVA, February 4, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- Statement by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on current the situation in North Africa
Thank you for coming once again. It is unusual for me to hold two press conferences within a week. This is a reflection of the extreme importance I place on what has been going on in North Africa over the past few weeks, and the ramifications for human rights further afield.
First I would like to make a few comments about what is happening in Egypt, before turning to Tunisia and handing over to my high-level team who have just returned from there.
I last spoke to you about Egypt on Tuesday, before vast and peaceful demonstrations and marches were held in Alexandria, Cairo and other cities. The world has been watching as events have unfolded since.
I warned then, and I reiterate again, that governments must listen to their people and put in practise their human rights obligations. Regimes that deprive people of their fundamental rights, that depend on a ruthless security apparatus to impose their will, are bound to fail in the long-term. Stability depends on the development of human rights and democracy.
Tuesday ended on an optimistic note in Egypt. The peaceful demonstrations showed that the chaos, which some were presenting as the only possible alternative to the existing system, was by no means the inevitable outcome.
The violence we all hoped would not happen, did happen on Wednesday when we saw shocking scenes of opposing groups hurling Molotov cocktails, fire bombs and barrages of large stones at each other. Again, there was a noticeable absence of police, and the army failed to separate the two groups, with tragic consequences.
This violence must stop.
Yesterday President Mubarak gaved a television interview in which he said he would like to step down now, but fears the only alternative would be chaos. In the last two days we have seen chaos in central Cairo, and one of the prime drivers of this chaos seems to have been the actions of Egypt's security and intelligence services.
I urge the authorities to make a strong, clear and unequivocal call on the security and intelligence forces that have protected the authoritarian regime in Egypt for the past 30 years, to stop undermining the security of the state they are supposed to serve.
The Prime Minister has apologized for Wednesday's violence. I welcome this public recognition – unique in Egypt's recent history – that the authorities have failed in their duties to protect the people. I urge Egypt to follow through and make the necessary reforms to promote human rights and democracy. There must be an investigation into whether this violence was planned, and if so by whom. This investigation must be undertaken in a transparent and impartial manner.
Over the past two days, we have learned of other extremely disturbing developments, including the physical assaults on, and intimidation and arbitrary detention of, dozens of journalists in what is clearly a blatant attempt to stifle news of what is going on in Egypt.
We have heard of the harassment and arbitrary detention of local and international human rights defenders, including most notably 20 or more people taken yesterday from the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre by military police. Those detained include some of Egypt's leading activists as well as staff of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International – two of the most respected international human rights organizations. As of the time I left for this briefing, I understand they had still not been freed from military detention.
All journalists and human rights defenders who were arrested for practicing their professions must be released immediately and unconditionally. The authorities must order their security and intelligence forces to cease this extreme harassment at once.
I also urge the authorities to maintain open communications and internet services, protect media premises, and halt all activities aimed at restricting or manipulating the free flow of information, such as the extraordinary hijacking of Vodaphone's system in order to send propaganda text messages.
Egypt must implement its international human rights obligations and prevent further violence. Protestors must be properly protected, including from each other. The security and intelligence forces must be held accountable. Change is coming to Egypt, as it came to Tunisia, but the violence and bloodshed must stop now.
Governments should listen to their people, and start addressing their human rights deficits immediately. Waiting until unrest actually happens is, as we have seen in Tunisia and are now seeing in Egypt, not only perpetuating systems that to a greater or lesser degree transgress international laws and standards, it is also a classic case of acting too little, too late. We now see there is an intense hunger for human rights in the Middle East and North Africa – and of course in other countries in other regions. Governments who ignore these extremely loud and clear warning signals, are doing so at their own peril.
As in Egypt, human rights are at the heart of the political change that has happened in Tunisia. In Tunisia, people expressed loudly and clearly their appetite for a genuine break with the past and for a new era in their countries. Socio-economic hardship coupled with a denial of human rights and justice were the instigators for the widespread protests in both countries.
My team of senior human rights experts has just returned from visiting Tunisia and the information they received confirmed how integral human rights will be for the construction of the future of this country. They have briefed me on their observations and findings.
I was particularly moved by the words of one man whose 28-year-old son died as a result of a gunshot wound to the chest, as he gathered with other young men to protect their neighbourhood from armed militias. Speaking of the death of his son, he told my team that, “there must be sacrifices for there to be change.” His courageous words convey the enormity of the change for ordinary Tunisians and their desire and determination to achieve it despite colossal personal sacrifices and pain. Tunisians are anxious to see the human rights gains of recent weeks reinforced and entrenched in law so that they become a permanent feature of their country.
My team is currently finalizing a written report, based on which I will decide on the best ways in which my Office can provide immediate and more long-term support and assistance to the Tunisian people on a range of human rights issues.
I will now hand over to my team for their direct accounts of what they witnessed in Tunisia over the past week and their impressions.
Source: United Nations - Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
Nigerian Girls Who Do Juju
Majority of Nigerian prostitutes on and off campus do juju.
Nigerian Girls Who Do Juju
I have met and befriended about three of them and they were all well educated and from comfortable families. Those who were close to them would never believe that such beautiful ladies were members of cults they joined when they were students at different universities in Nigeria. One of them even made sacrifices at the lagoon of the UNILAG. The second used special candles for rituals and the third one confessed that a python once came out of her vagina and said she was no longer in the cult. But her close female friend told me that she lied, because she was still keeping her white ritual plates. I made sure I never slept with anyone of them. I always had my Holy Bible whenever I passed the night with one of them. My friend dated another one who soon showed him her true colours one fateful day as they slept after making love. She suddenly got up and started singing and dancing in a strange ritual.
Majority of Nigerian prostitutes on and off campus do juju.
These are not rare cases, because many girls and ladies in Nigeria are ritualizes and pretending to be "Christians". They practice juju which they use in their relationships with men.
Will.i.am or Won't He?
Will.i.am with Escama Studio Masha bag of 100% recycled aluminum pull tabs. (PRNewsFoto/Escama Studio)
4 Feb 2011 14:40 Africa/Lagos
Will.i.am or Won't He?
'Big Game' Half Time Show Will Tell
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 4, 2011
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- He's worn it on Oprah, on stage with Tom Cruise, at concerts from London to Brazil, at L.A. Laker games, and in US Magazine, but that's the question Escama Studio, a small cooperative design studio based in San Francisco and Brazil wants to know. Will Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas wear their bag made from 100% recycled pull tabs and intricate crochet when he performs at Sunday's "Big Game" Half Time Show?
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110204/SF42238)
Will.i.am personally owns five of these handmade bags, but it would mean so much to this small company, with no advertising budget to speak of, for Will.i.am to wear his bag in front of millions. It would validate their mission to create a line of high style, sustainable bags and accessories while improving the lives of the women who make them.
In Brazil, the studio works with more than 100 women from three different cooperatives. This gives the artisans the means to support themselves and their families. Escama Studio donates a percentage of annual sales towards computer-based educational programs, along with computers, furniture, training, and assistance opening bank accounts. Escama Studio is a member of the Fair Trade Federation and has always paid fair wages.
At first glance it's not clear what the bags are made of. Upon closer inspection it becomes clear that they are works of real ingenuity, wearable works of art. Its Leda Bag is the winner of the 2010 Independent Handbag Design Award for "Best Green Handbag".
Escama Studio bags and accessories are now sold in 15 countries and notable locations including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Sydney Opera House and the Royal Academy of Art, London.
Watch the "Big Game" Half Time Show for the answer…
For more information, please contact:
Colette Landi Sipperly for Escama Studio 917.767.9796 or colettesipp@comcast.net
Visit www.escamastudio.com and meet some of the fair trade artists who make each bag.
Es•ca•ma scale of a fish [Portuguese]
SOURCE Escama Studio
CONTACT: Colette Landi Sipperly, +1-917-767-9796, colettesipp@comcast.net, for Escama Studio
Web Site: http://www.escamastudio.com
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Thursday, February 3, 2011
African Film Festival of Tarifa Offers Movies Online
2 Feb 2011 18:12 Africa/Lagos
African Film Festival of Tarifa Offers Movies Online
TARIFA, February 2, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- FCAT's 8th edition on 11th-19th June
3rd African-Spanish film Co-production forum's submission closed
Submissions of films for official competition close February 25th
Submissions of for 4th PhotoAfrica close March 1st
The African Film Festival of Tarifa (www.fcat.es), has entered into a partnership with AfricanFilms.tv, a video-on-demand internet platform with headquarter in Dakar, Senegal, aiming to help the platform build up its catalogue of African films.
African movies online
Due to cooperation with AfricaFilms.tv film fans will be able to watch movies from the 500 films rich FCAT library on the video-on-demand platform when it launches commercially in June. A legal, commercial downloading platform, available worldwide, guarantees fair revenue to African filmmakers and producers. “AfricaFilms.tv is very transparent and straight forward. It is commercial, but the focus is on the African filmmaker. Right holders get 50% of revenue, have online access to the back office and the cession of rights is non-exclusive” says AfricaFilm.tv CEO, Mr. Enrico Chiesa.
“We hope to provide the platform with 20-30 titles from our library per year” says Mrs. Mane Cisneros, director of FCAT and adds “Securing the rights and all the materials related will take time and effort, but we are convinced this is the right platform for us and for the filmmakers”.
Spanish-African co-productions
In January FCAT closed selection process for the 3rd Africa Produce - forum between African filmmakers and Spanish producers, TV commissioning editors and co-production managers, which goal is to introduce African cinema projects to the Spanish co-production market. For this year forum FCAT received 18 feature-length projects and 12 documentary projects, coming from 14 African countries. The most entries in fiction category came from Nigeria (4) and Cameroon (4), while the most documentary projects came from Burkina Faso (3). For the first time ever Equatorial Guinea and Namibia applied in the forum.
Six projects will be selected by FCAT jury and their directors will be present at the festival to convince Spanish producers. “We aim to continue promoting co-production between Africa and Spain. Two films, from Senegal and Mali, presented in the previous editions are now in development” said Carlos Domínguez, África Produce‘s co-ordinator.
Calls for entries still open
Filmmakers from all over Africa can until February 25th send their films to FCAT's committee, which is in charge of selecting movies for the competing and non-competing sections of the festival.
At the same time African photographers can send their entries for the 4th PhotoAfrica until March 1st.
More info regarding application process can be found on www.fcat.es
About FCAT
African film festival of Tarifa (FCAT – Festival de Cine Africano de Tarifa) is an independent and competitive film festival and one of the biggest African film festivals in Europe. The FCAT celebrates its eighth edition from 11th to 19th June 2011 in Andalusian town Tarifa - the closest town of continental Europe to the African continent - the two continents are in fact only 14 km apart from one another in this geographical area.
This year FCAT will screen up over hundred African films and it will bring together some of the most distinguished African filmmakers. Its aim is to spread knowledge about African film production by exhibiting a representative wide variety of audiovisual African works every year: from the classics to more innovative and recent films, from documentaries to feature length fiction films, from South Africa to Morocco and from Senegal to Ethiopia. More on www.fcat.es
Contact:
Filip Hruby
International Press Officer
Festival de Cine Africano de Tarifa - FCAT
Móvil: +420/775011550
gabineteprensa2@fcat.es
www.fcat.es
Source: The African Film Festival of Tarifa
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Who Is Afraid Of Timi Alaibe?
Timi Alaibe
Who Is Afraid Of Timi Alaibe?
~ By Daniel Wilcox.
Since the day Mr. Timi Alaibe declared his interest to contest for Bayelsa State governorship under the Labour Party many nerves have been racked. Those who are yet to grasp the reality of Alaibe's declaration are already hell-bent on snuffing life out of him. This is to be expected from a people who have no political credibility.
Alaibe decided to team up with the Labour Party to wrest power from the incumbent non-performing governor of Bayelsa state. It is natural that when superiority challenges inferiority, the complex in the lesser party would seek to annihilate the higher party. This is precisely the situation in Bayelsa state today. It is now a consensus of opinion that Alaibe is bringing the Midas touch to the governance of the state if voted into power. Not a few would agree that the state desperately needs speedy transformation. But those who want the status-quo of the frittering of the state's resources would do all the pernicious things to stall the machine of re-engineering the state. The recent bomb blast near his home is one desperate effort by the bruised and the humbled opposition to dissuade Alaibe from contesting the governorship of the state. Having traversed many paths assiduously and successfully, Alaibe is not one to give up so easily. His power is derived from the strength of the people who have massed around him like an impregnable wall.
“I will never let our great party and my people down by giving up the support the people have given me,” he said. Such a statement could only come from a man who knows the people to be his constituency. Alaibe knows that this is his hour to bring about a rebirth in Bayelsa.
The current government has failed us in Bayelsa. Security has collapsed because there are no conscious and concerted efforts on the part of the government to build a virile state where relative peace and tranquility will prevail.
The state has an almost a nonexistent commerce. Governance is not only about putting up phony adverts with the money of already bruised citizens. Governor Timipre Sylva promised to address issues of infrastructure, environment, security, youth empowerment and agriculture but he has so for failed to fulfill his promises. There is no time now to do that, because his time is up. The people are now determined to vote out the ruling government in the state, by voting in a responsible Labour Party government spearheaded by Alaibe.
Accountability had been murdered in Bayelsa state by the current administration as huge allocation of the Federal Government to the Local government areas had been misappropriated by the state government cronies. The rate of unemployment in the state had tripled, this partly accounts for the high rate of criminality in the state. You cannot blame the people because the government has been a great disappointment. Rather than the state government to create job opportunities, it continued to deceive the people with unrealistic and unobtainable schemes.
“The Labour Party is resilient, united and fights the cause of the common man,” he stated. I am for the common people. I also will not overlook the needs of others. He understands the Niger Delta terrain and what the rural masses need.
Though Bayelsa State is one of the major oil producing states in Nigeria, majority of its people still live in poverty.
Adequate transportation system, health, education, and other infrastructure are grossly inadequate in the state as a result of decades of insensitivity of government of the state.
The labour gubernatorial candidate urges all Bayelsans to come out and participate in the on going voters exercise; Bayelsans according to him must resist attempts to manipulate the voter registration. If we want a better Bayelsa state, we must take action and join the efforts to make it happen.
Wilcox lives in Yenogoa, Bayelsa State.
Alaibe: The Only Choice For Change In Bayelsa State
Timi Alaibe
Alaibe: The Only Choice For Change In Bayelsa State
~ By Daniel Wilcox
That Mr. Timi Alaibe has declared his interest to contest for Bayelsa State governorship under the Labour Party is no news. It is also no news that he decided to team up with the Labour Party to wrest Bayelsa state from the shackles of the ruling party. What is news is that Alaibe is bringing the Midas touch to the state because it desperately needs speedy transformation. He is known as one not given to failures. His rise from grass to grace attests to his commitment to a purpose driven mission.
“I will never let our great party and my people down,” he said. Such a statement could only come from a man who knows the right time to do the right thing. Alaibe knows that this is his hour to bring about a rebirth in Bayelsa. He knows that the possibility is within his reach judging by the stunning following he enjoys in the state across political, ethnic and religious spectrum in the state. Almost all his life seems a preparation for this moment.
“I chose Labour Party because the party is resilient, united and fights the cause of the common man,” he stated.
Alaibe is not new to administration in any capacity. He has served the nation well and done exceedingly good for his Niger-delta constituency. He rose from being executive director (Finance) to becoming the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC. He was later appointed Senior Adviser to the president on Niger Delta Affairs. He was until his resignation from the current administration a moving force in the implementation of the government’s amnesty program for ex-militants. Alaibe, oversaw the implementation of the amnesty, under which more than 20,000 oil militants, surrendered their arms in exchange for development of their region and a retraining program. He understands the Niger Delta terrain and what the rural masses need in Bayelsa.
A true son of the Niger Delta, Alaibe showed quite early in his life the qualities of diligence, intelligence, compassion.
Prior to his appointment as Managing Director, Alaibe was in the banking industry. He served as Vice President of Cosmopolitan Bancshares in 1994, and later as General Manager, Corporate Banking and Investment at Societe Generale Bank (Nig.) Ltd.
He has become a magnetic rallying point among the youth, the women and the elders alike, and at the national level where he has championed the cause of the Niger Delta people.
At NDDC, it is on record that he has been instrumental to the healthy financial and administrative regime of the Commission, in a charged socio-political environment where the mandate of the Commission faces a dire prospect of being easily overwhelmed by political exigencies and social pressures.
A major part of the success of the NDDC in addressing the daunting neglect of the Niger Delta region, as well as in reducing the agitation and violence prevalent in the region before the establishment of the NDDC, lies in Alaibe’s great compassion, brilliance, foresight, natural problem-solving and people-savvy skills.
In line with the vision of former president Olusegun Obasanjo, Mr. Alaibe helped to enthrone a culture of enduring achievement for the NDDC. Along with his colleagues on the Board and Management of the NDDC, he strove to set in motion, a coordinated response mechanism to the short-term and long-term challenges of the Niger Delta, comprising as key ingredients, an integrated regional development Master Plan, interim action plan for key projects in the states, as well as skill acquisition programs and a re-orientation and empowerment of youths.
Alaibe has been described in many circles as peace advocate, catalyst for change, friend of the oppressed, conduit for development, and symbol of hope and inspiration for the indigent yet hopeful Niger Delta people.
Alaibe holds a bachelors degree in Accountancy from the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, and a Master of Business Administration from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.
In recognition of his contributions to humanity and the society, Alaibe has been appointed a member of many professional organizations, including the Institute of Chartered Administrators, the Institute of Corporate Executives, and the Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He has also received many outstanding awards for excellence. In 1991, for instance, Mr. Alaibe was appointed a member of the Rivers State Task Force on Counterfeit and Fake Drugs. A one-time vice-chairman of the Rivers State Wrestling Association, he was also the founding Chairman of the Rivers-Bayelsa Professionals Forum.
He is, also, a member of the Presidential Committee Police Equipment Fund, where he serves as Chairman, Public Sector Sub-Committee.
Among his many awards are: Certified Doctor of Business Administration, Oxford Association of Management, Oxford, England; Distinguished Fellow of the Academy of Commercial Diplomacy, UK; Certified Strategist Lifetime Award of the Cambridge Association of Managers, UK; Certificate of Honour from the European Market Research Centre, (Euro Market Forum) 2003; Distinguished Fellow, Institute of Corporate Administration of Nigeria; Distinguished Fellow, Certified Institute of Management, Nigeria; Distinguished Alumnus of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; and Outstanding Alumnus Award, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt.
In addition to his growing international profile, Alaibe has been invited to deliver papers on subjects as wide-ranging as politics, capital markets/country risk rating, sustainable development, peace and security.
These include: Security and Sustainable Development in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria,” by the Defense and Security Forum, United Kingdom; Development Challenges of the Niger Delta Region: The Path to Sustainable Development,” at the annual law week of the Nigerian Bar Association, Bayelsa State Branch; Country Risk Rating And Implications For Capital Market Growth In Nigeria: The Niger Delta Question,” at the Nigerian Stock Exchange Annual Conference, Abuja; and Peace and Development in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria,” delivered at the prestigious annual Ronald H. Brown African Affairs Series of the Black Congressional Caucus, the United States of America, organised by the Leadership Roundtable of the US-Africa Partnership.
Though Bayelsa State is one of the major oil producing states in Nigeria, it is one of the least benefiting states from the oil income. Majority of Bayelsans still live in poverty. They are mainly rural dwellers due to its peculiar terrain and lack of adequate transportation system, health, education, or other infrastructure, as a result of decades of neglect by the central government and oil prospecting companies. This has been a major problem in the state since its creation and successive governments have failed to address and repair the damage. The state has an almost nonexistent commerce.
In his inaugural speech, following his election, the current governor of the state, Governor Timipre Sylva, promised to address issues of infrastructure, environment, security, youth empowerment, agriculture and industrialization. His government has so far failed to deliver on these promises.
Alaibe is undaunted and remains focused on his program to transform the state for the overall well being of its people.
~Wilcox lives in Yenogoa, Bayelsa State.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Our Revolution will be Live on the CNN
Nigerians protest against corruption
As Prof. John Oshodi has analyzed in the following article on the premonition of a popular political revolution in Nigeria as the masses are revolting against oppressive regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, I know that our own revolution will be live on the CNN.
~ The Publisher/Editor
As Revolutionary Anxiety Grips Africa, the Nigerian Masses of Different Ethnic and Religious Backgrounds Must React With Supportive and Peaceful Expressions
As peaceful uprising fills the air of Africa, the days and weeks ahead could pose questions for other near and far countries in the continent, and underneath the turmoil are traces of corruption, unemployment, underemployment, brutality, dangerousness and lawlessness.
These painful factors remain realistic and vivid in the hearts of ordinary Nigerians, and these are tests for the power-that-be, who find themselves constantly being suspicious of each other, cruel to each other, killing each other, bribing each other, mis-educating each other, lying to each other and pilfering from each other.
These daunting and never-ending forces and pressures on the people have in the last decade created gross societal and institutional neglect as evidenced in squandered treasury, deadly roads, school mismanagement, oil exploitation, inadequate healthcare, rampant violence, electric supply instability, poor policing, and other misguided institutions.
Nigeria has become a country where accountability, transparency, objectivity and high standards in governmental and private practices are almost void, and leadership is defined in fragility due to being accountable mainly to godfathers/godmothers rather to the people.
These signs of institutional tensions should bring the people together in spite of their regional, socio-economic, ethnic and religious differences, and help create a peaceful uprising, protest and revolution. It now appears that the people have in the process internalized these leadership problems and tensions, and as a consequence are turning against each other, resulting in peculiar or abnormal practices as in kidnapping, religious violence, family brutality, cult slaying, ethnic strain, cash laundering, and general insecurities.
The painful and recent history of poor law and order, and the shaky political/economic insecurity, which mainly threatens the lives of ordinary Nigerians, the students, market women and struggling workers especially, makes it proper for a revolution which must be constructive and peaceful with a focus on provoking positive change.
The Nigerian people are known for just wanting to live their lives, and as we all know rallies, protests and outcry for social justice have not traditionally been a part of their collective or individual psyche. So the desire to spontaneously express and peacefully lash out against spoiled Nigerian leadership will not be easy to reveal itself.
But what is clear is that the signs to anticipate popular outcry for change appears to around the corner, and as the April elections draw near the people will be justified to demand for their right and freedom through a participatory, responsive and God-fearing democracy.
A national unity among demonstrators will have more power if good-faith Nigerians in the Diaspora, in America particularly, tell those at home that help is on the way, and actually go home, and present a show of collective force against leadership who need to be held to higher standards.
As we all know April, May, and June are fast coming and the world is watching as to when change will be in the air in Nigeria!
~ By John Egbeazien Oshodi, Ph.D , DABPS, FACFE, is a Forensic/Clinical Psychologist and an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Science, North Campus, Broward College, Coconut Creek, Florida. joshodi@broward.edu
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