Happy Birthday Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, Publisher/Editor of @247Nigeria

Today is the birthday of Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, Publisher/Editor of @247Nigeria, Nigerians Report Online, Talk of The Town By Orikinla and other blogs. He started his career at 18 as a scriptwriter for the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Channel 10 in Lagos; became a project artist for the Johns Hopkins University's Population Communication Services (JHU/PCS) at 21; Art/Features Editor for the Kiddies World magazine at 24; Program Consultant for UNICEF Nigeria at 25; ; Production Manager of "Money Wise" for Media Network on DBN TV in Lagos from 1998-2000; and started his King of Kings International publishing company in 2000; Founder/Executive Director of the United Artists for Human Development (UAHD) Project in 2002; Founder/CEO of International Digital Post Network Limited( IDPNL) in 2009 and Screen Outdoor Open Air Cinema (SOOAC) in 2013.He is a prize winning writer since when he won the first prize in the Pop magazine national essay competition at 13 and he is the author of Children of Heaven, Sleepless Night, Scarlet Tears of London, In the House of Dogs, Diary of the Memory Keeper, The Prophet Lied, The Victory of Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian Dream and other books; coauthor of Naked Beauty, Publisher/Editor of The Language of True Love, NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series; Founder and first Festival Director of the Eko International Film Festival, Founder/Executive Director of Screen Naija One Village, One Cinema Project and Founder/Executive Director of Girls United Together for Success (GUTS) Project. He has registered a new international film festival, Zenith International Film Festival; developing his iPost Nigeria mobile video sharing and eCommerce channel and started his Screen Naija YouTube Channel.
He recently produced and directed his "LAGOS in MOTION: A Photo Album of Africa's Largest Megacity" documentary series and published the LAGOS in MOTION: A Photo Album of Africa's Largest Megacity (Volume 1)
https://www.amazon.com/LAGOS-MOTION-Africas-Largest-Megacity/dp/1536934925.
He is widely known for promoting and supporting the education, protection and welfare of underprivileged girls in Nigeria and other countries. He cosponsored and co- hosted the Nigerian premiere of the CNN groundbreaking documentary film, "Girl Rising" in 2013 and "HE NAMED ME MALALA" documentary film of Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani girl education activist and youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner.
 https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima

Illegal Immigrants Are Criminals and Should Be Treated As Criminals

Illegal immigrants are criminals, because violation of immigration laws is a crime.
There is no need to argue with this fact and no need for any political correctness, circomluction or any academic thesis on foreign policy on this matter.
All illegal immigrants should be arrested, arraigned, convicted and deported without delay.

The trespassing and rampaging Fulani herdsmen attacking and killing hundreds of Nigerian citizens are illegal immigrants from the neighbouring countries of Mali, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
The Nigerian government failed to arrest them and they trespassed on the farmlands of Nigerians, destroyed their crops and attacked those who challenged them.
Without any proof of citizenship, they register as voters and have been voting in Nigerian elections.

Failure to arrest and prosecute illegal immigrants caused the massacre of Nigerian Christians in southern Kaduna, because the state government allowed them to trespass on the lands of the citizens with impunity.

Leading Nigerian Government Transparency Organization, BudgIT, Secures New $1.5 Million Grant from Omidyar Network

Leading Nigerian Government Transparency Organization, BudgIT, Secures New $1.5 Million Grant from Omidyar Network

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Jan. 25, 2017  /PRNewswire/ -- Omidyar Network announced today it is renewing and expanding its investment in the Lagos-based government transparency organization BudgIT. The new up to $1.5 million, three-year grant follows an initial grant from the Omidyar Network in 2014, and will be focused on enabling BudgIT to grow its organizational capacity, especially at state level, and to expand its work with government and institutional stakeholders into Abuja.

Buchi Emecheta, Nigeria's Greatest Female Novelist Has Passed On

Nigeria's greatest female novelist and author of several books, Florence Onyebuchi "Buchi" Emecheta OBE, passed on to eternal glory yesterday, January 25, 2017.
She was born in Lagos on July 21, 1944. But was based in Britain where she lived and wrote her books.
Her novel, "The Slave Girl" remains one of my favourite novels.


Description
Review
“Buchi Emecheta writes with a storyteller's flare. Her prose is vivid and simple as a stone carving.” (Houston Chronicle)

“Miss Emecheta's prose has a shimmer of originality, of English being reinvented....Issues of survival lie inherent in her material and give her tales weight.” (John Updike - The New Yorker)

"Her graphically detailed pictures of tribal life make the novel memorable."―Chicago Tribune.

"The Slave Girl" follows the fortunes of Ogbanje Ojebeta, a Nigerian woman who is sold into slavery in her own land after disease and tragedy leave her orphaned as a child. In her fellow slaves, she finds a surrogate family that clings together under the unbending will of their master. As Ogbanje Ojebeta becomes a woman and discovers her need for home and family, and for freedom and identity, she realizes that she must ultimately choose her own destiny.

About the Author
Born of Ibo parents in Nigeria, Buchi Emecheta is widely known for her multilayered stories of black women struggling to maintain their identity and construct viable lives for themselves and their families. She writes, according to The New York Times, with "subtlety, power, and abundant compassion." Her numerous novels include The Slave Girl, The Family, Bride Price, and The Joys of Motherhood.

See all the books by clicking on her name here Buchi Emecheta

1.5 Million Immigrants Arriving United States of America Each Year Since 2010

1.5 Million Immigrants Arriving United States of America Each Year Since 2010

These are the major countries with the largest numerical increases in immigrants living in the United States of America since 2010 .

India (up 609,000),
China (up 510,000),
Philippines (up 205,000),
Dominican Republic (up 184,000),
El Salvador (up 138,000),
Cuba (up 106,000),
Nigeria (up 104,000),
Guatemala (up 97,000),
Haiti (up 88,000),
Pakistan (up 80,000),
Honduras (up 76,000),
Bangladesh (up 75,000),
Venezuela (up 71,000),
Colombia (up 63,000),
Vietnam (up 60,000),
Iraq (up 55,000).

Sour
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/immigration-surging-15-million-arriving-each-year-300354636.html

Media is Key to the Growth of the Economy - Dr. Dakuku Peterside, NIMASA DG

Director General of NIMASA - Dr. Dakuku Peterside (PRNewsFoto/NIMASA).

Media is Key to the Growth of the Economy - Nimasa DG
   
LAGOS, Nigeria, January 20, 2017  /PRNewswire/ --

The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside has charged the media on fair and balance reportage of economic activities, noting that they play a vital role to the growth and development of the economy.

Twitter Shows Influence of Word of Mouth on Movies

Twitter Shows Influence of Word of Mouth on Movies

Confirms Earlier Research on Relationship to revenue.

BOSTON, Jan. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- A study conducted as part of a School of Communication research course at Emerson College found that Twitter could demonstrate the influence of word of mouth on movies. Specifically, the study found a strong correlation between sentiments expressed on Twitter and movie revenue.

Nollywood is Worth Over US$3.5Billion

The Wedding Party is currently the highest grossing movie at the cinemas in Nollywood.

Nollywood is Worth Over US$3.5Billion

Nigeria is often not considered as a wealthy nation. However, when talking about Nollywood, if you are presuming it to be a poor film industry then you are totally wrong! Nigerian film is Africa’s biggest motion picture industry in wording esteem and the quantity of motion pictures delivered every year. Albeit Nigerian movies have been delivered subsequently to the 1960s. The ascent of moderate computerized shooting and altering innovations has fortified the nation’s film and video industry. Nigeria’s film industry is as of now positioned as 6th biggest film industry on the planet taking into account the quantity of movies discharged every year.
The film business is worth over US$3.5 billion.

Source
http://infotainworld.com/top-10-biggest-film-industries-

BOOK OF THE MONTH

Letter from the General's Wife in Nigeria

I met the Brigadier-General's wife when I was 25 and she must have loved seeing me dressed in military camouflage, even though I was not a soldier, but my father, Sunday Eke was a soldier.
She was one of the most beautiful women in Nigeria and the most powerful, but very humble. An African American mulatto from a noble and wealthy family living in New York City.  She said her family never accepted her decision to marry the young Nigerian military officer in 1975. But she was in love with him. She was only 22 and very romantic.

The late Gen.Sani Abacha, former military Head of State of Nigeria, called her, "Our Madam", because her husband was once their camp commandant in the Nigerian Army. It was during the launching of her first book, "The General's Wife" at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) on Kofo Abayomi Street on Victoria Island in Lagos in 1991. The same venue of the public presentation of my first book, "Children of Heaven" in 1988. Later she hosted the exclusive reception for selected guests of VIPs at the Lagos Motor Boat Club on Awolowo Road in Ikoyi.
We were very close. She once allowed me into her bedroom one day when she was too weak to come downstairs. The general was not in the house.
"What do you think Brigadier will do to you if he finds you in our bedroom?" She asked with a smile.
What?"
"He will throw you over the balcony."
We were fond of each other. It was a beautiful and exciting platonic friendship.

Over 3 Million Nigerians Invested in MMM Nigeria

Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox, a Ponzi scheme known simply as MMM has attracted over three million Nigerians who  invested more than US$1Billion in the get-rich-quick scheme. But majority of them are now frustrated since the Russian operators and their Nigerian agents have not doubled or refunded their money which many of them borrowed.
Students invested their school fees; parents also invested their savings and thousands of others used loans or misappropriated funds allocated for public projects and other services.

Read more on Investors Stranded As MMM Reopens - Investment - Nigeria http://www.nairaland.com/3572099/investors-stranded-mmm-reopens.