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NIPOST: Tackling Challenges With Courier Operators
Vol. 008 Issue No. 016, June, 2022
APCON Inducts 15 OAAN Members, 48 Others As Fellows
N1000; £5; SAR50; Ce70:00; US$7.50
Promoting Excellence In Visibility Communication
KENNY JONES DESIGNS AT 30
ISSN: 2449-1217
www.brandvisibility.com.ng
On AISOP, ADVAN Disagrees
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BRAND VISIBILITY •JUNE, 2022
NEWS
BRAND VISIBILITY • JUNE, 2022
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CONTENTS Profile....................................................................................6
Corporate Governance And Business
Infractions Of Lasaa Against Oaan Members......8
Continuity In Times Of Economic And
OAAN Decorates Oonirisa, Emir Of Kano
Security Challenges...................................................58
National Patrons.............................................................11
Giving Aisop A Chance.............................................66
BITS ON BRANDS............................................................13
The ‘Selfie’ Generation...............................................68
BRAND PERSONALITY.................................................15
Kenny Jones Designs At 30: Our
BRAND ESSENCE............................................................19
Uniqueness Sells Our Brand-CEO........................70
On AISOP, Advan Disagrees.......................................21
Tourism Ignites Historical Sites For Local,
NIPOST: Challenges Facing Courier, Logistics
Inbound Travellers.....................................................75
Operators End Soon....................................................24
Branding Nigeria As A Tourist Destination......80
APCON Inducts 15 OAAN Members, 48
Exporting Cultures Through Advocacy:
Others As Fellows........................................................34
The Yoruba Exhibition Example...........................84
OAAN Resists Planned Road Concession
Ekimogun Day Festival: A Brand To Sustain
By LASAA.........................................................................43
Ondo Kingdom–Stakeholders.............................88
AB Inbev To Receive 2022 Cannes Lions
Ondo Ekimogun Dynamic Club Elects
Creative Marketer Of The Year...............................45
New President...Members Project For The
What Having A ‘Growth Mindset’ Actually
Future.............................................................................97
Means.............................................................................47
Celebrating Agba Akin
Flutterwave 3.0: African Fintech Startup
Pa Akinwale @70....................................................110
Unveils New Identity, Rebrands.............................49
WELLBIENG...............................................................117
United Nigeria Airlines: Bringing Changes
Trends In Fashion: Reinventing
To Airspace.....................................................................53
Old Styles..................................................................118
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TEAM
THE
Publisher/Editor-In-Chief: Sola Akinsiku, frpa, mnipr Editorial Consultant/ Chairman Editorial Board: Seyi Fasugba
Editorial Advisers: Prof. Ralph Akinfeleye Prof. Abigail Ogwuezzy Ndisika Dr. Josef-Bel Molokwu, frpa Dr. Orobola Fasehun Chief Dayo Duyile Contributors: Dr. Odion Oscar Odibo Dr. Kunle Adeyemi Chief Akin Babafemi (Ph.D) Bankole Ebisemiju Alhaji Bola Agboola Engr. Dayo Akinola Joe Eugene Onuorah Zacchaeus Akinadewo Snr. Reporter/Researcher Saidat Alausa Auto Correspondent: Emmanuel Olisemeke Consulting Photographers: Akeredolu Doyin Yinka Babade Lydia Oshin Aviation Correspondent: Rachael Koiki Correspondents: Adebayo Tosin(Fashion & Lifestyle) Ilediegwu Joy (Brands) Online Research: Akinsiku Fiyinfoluwa Advert Executives: Anita Akinwale Ronke Adebayo Toyin Bolarinwa Ayo Ogunbadejo Linda Olumuyide Southern Nigeria Bureau: Chidubem Anthony Northern Nigeria Bureau: Andra Chiedu Ghana c/o The Great Argon Holdings Ltd 14, VCRAC Crabbe Avenue, Tesano West Accra. +233 244 384 268 Freetown, Sierra Leone: Koroma Edwin Hassan ADG (SL) Limited Sierra LightHouse 5, Man O’ War Bay Aberdeen, Freetown +232 31042613 Group Head, Finance Oriyomi Martins Orowole Group Head, HR Toluyemi Adediji Secretary/PA to the Publisher: Hotonu Olawunmi Design/Layout: King Ododoru Tolani Yusuf Marketing Consultants: Isaac Phritnol Professional Services +234 803 481 4122 Corporate Communications Consultants: Quintessence Public Relations +234 813 878 1585 Adviser Legal Services: Barr. Fidelis Adewole Printed & Published by: Visibility Dynamics Publishing Limited 5, Sadiku Street, Off Amara Olu Street Agidingbi - Ikeja, Lagos State.
EDITORIAL
Making APCON Relevant THE Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) seems to have discovered its rhythms within the marketing communication sector given recent developments. The Council since the appointment of Dr. Lekan Fadolapo as the substantive Registrar has of late developed an understanding with the professionals within the industry, who for years have been yearning for such a relationship that will not only give direction but also provide quality leadership capable of elevating the profession and practice of advertising beyond the ordinary level when compared to other professional groups. Among the sectoral groups the clamour had not been for a substantive Registrar alone but also a Council with a certified and tested practional as Chairman to effectively coordinate and regulate the activities of practitioners in the industry. The emergence of Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo, in response to this demand did not only provide answers to the concern of the sectoral groups but appears to have injected new life into the industry. The programmes and events recently initiated and implemented by the Council and the support, participation by sectoral groups are demonstrations of the eagerness of the practitioners just finding expression in a formal setting. Apart from the inductions of new fellows which had been suspended for about ten years, reviving APCON training programme for new practitioners does a clear indication of what had been neglected over the years and now know what to do in or-
der to secure the future. Despite these commendable steps taken so far, a lot still needs to be done to achieve the desire of making APCON to be independent as a regulator of the profession and practice of advertising. The need to make the Council to be independent of government control and subvention cannot be over emphasized. This is the time for the professionals to ensure this dream is actualized in order to prevent what happened earlier when politicians and civil servants were in control of the Council The fight to eliminate quacks from the sector already spearheaded by the sectoral groups must get the needed bite now to effectively reposition the industry for relevance. The need for the profession to continue to reflect the dynamism of modern marketing communications must not be underestimated given the growing influence of digitalization and its impact on the industry more than ever before. This demands new thinking, new approach and legislations to handle the emerging trends in marketing communication. The joint effort of the sectoral groups and APCON, working together to update the laws hitherto regulating the practice for decades, clearly foresees a bright future for the Council and the profession. There is no doubt that the job to reposition APCON for efficiency and relevance has started. We counsel that the momentum must be sustained to ensure that the goals are eventually attained.
BRAND VISIBILITY • JUNE, 2022
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PROFILE
About Us In Brief • The magazine is one of the specialized publications from the stables of Visibility Dynamics Publishing Limited. We have a team of well trained and roundly experienced professional and practicing journalists with core interest in the promotion of excellence in Brand Communication. Today, there is a highly compelling need for Brand Owners and their communication consultants to clearly distinguish their brands from the deluge of others in the same category. Our assignment, though self-imposed, but to which we are eternally committed, in absolute terms, is to offer professional guidance in all areas, aspects and ramifications of effective and efficient Brand Communication efforts intended to help them to be more productive in their approach, and fruitful in their outputs. • Beginning with our first edition, published in 2015, our content gathering approach has been to draw from the reservoir of cognate journalism experience of members of our team, which they have gathered in the course of years of continuous practice that have, for some of us, spanned over two decades. We also regularly draw from the very rich experience of experts including scholars and leading professionals who can offer informed opinions on every topic. We really see and treat each lead topic as a project that must be thoroughly researched in order to give our readers an output that will enhance their understanding. • Our Editorial policy stands on the pillar of seeking to promote excellence in Brand Communication. While we celebrate accomplishments and commend excellent performance, we do so in a way that such will enhance the contribution to extant literature in that area, and, at the same time, lay a formidable foundation for improvement.
Our Vision: • We are focused on being the leading and most authoritative companion of our readers, which they prefer as the most informed source for issues relevant to effective and productive brand communication activities in Nigeria, and the West African sub-region.
Our Mission: • We are committed to deploying our resources, time, talent and skills in generating, processing and publishing well researched and highly informative brand focused magazine that will help our readers to be well informed, more intellectually sound, so as to take informed decisions at all times and become more resourceful and productive in their engagements.
Our Core Values: We are committed to practicing a brand of journalism that thrives on: • Integrity of source • Reliability of our output • Commitment to the deployment of journalism standards that uphold ethics and which promote professionalism • An avowed commitment to being accountable to our readers and then users of our published works on the genuineness and reliability of our sources at all times • Learning: at all times, to keep improving
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PROFILE
Our Only Desire • To be the most reliable and dependable companion for our target audience.
Our Human Capital Focus • We are committed to building a highly formidable team of skilled and roundly experienced Brand Journalists, adequately equipped and motivated to deliver our objective of making our readers thought leaders in all aspects of Visibility Communication.
OUR CURRENT TEAM i.
SOLA AKINSIKU frpa;mnipr
SEYI FASUGBA
SAIDAT ALAUSA
Publisher/CEO ‘Sola Akinsiku: Holds a 1992 Masters Degree in Mass Communication of the University of Lagos, and has practised journalism, Public Relations and Advertising continuously and consistently since 1989, when he joined The Punch Newspapers. A Fellow of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, frpa, our Publisher is also the Chief Executive Officer at KOK Visibility Edge Nigeria Limited (an outdoor Advertising firm). He is currently the General Secretary of the Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria, our Publisher also has interests in Public Relations practice.
ii. Editorial Consultant/Chairman Editorial Team; ‘Seyi Fasugba; a seasoned journalist, and a well-groomed and highly exposed editor par excellence. The former Editor of Daily Champion and National Mirror Newspapers holds a Masters degree (M.Sc.) 1992, first degree (B. Sc.), 1986 in Mass Communications and from the University of Lagos and a Diploma in Practical French from Alliance Francaise. He is a Phil Robins fellow of the International Centre for Journalists, (ICFJ), 2007 in Washington DC and practical training and experience with the Orlando Sentinel, Orlando, Florida, United States. iii. Senior Correspondent: Saidat Alausa, our Senior Correspondent and editorial coordinator is a graduate of Mass Communication with over a decade of dedicated journalism practice working on exclusive stories with some of the leading titles, which include National Mirror. She co-ordinates inputs from all our reporters, other correspondents, contributors and serves as the “Clearing House” for all that must go into each edition.
BRAND VISIBILITY • JUNE, 2022
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EDITORIAL COMMENT
Infractions Of LASAA Against OAAN Members IT IS no longer news that the Out-ofHome Advertising Association of Nigeria, (OAAN) is at loggerheads with the Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency, (LASAA) over what the Association considers as overbearing infractions which, if not checked by His Excellency, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu will strangulate the businesses of its members in the state. Already, OAAN members are complaining that LASAA is holding its members by the jugular. Some of the complaints include failure of LASAA to work within the framework of the laws that established the Agency in a number of areas, the
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primary one being the failure of the Lagos State Government to constitute and inaugurate a governing board to supervise its activities and serve as a platform for the resolution of issues that bother on disagreement between the Agency and OOH operators, notably members of OAAN. There are also the complaints against LASAA’s arbitrary fixing of fees payable on billboard platforms, insistence on payment of advert permit fees even when there are no adverts on the billboards; operatives of LASAA taking laws into their hands when they carry out their “enforcement” exercises, during which they vandalize campaign
materials running on the billboard. The association also complained about the Agency allowing individuals that are not registered practitioners to own billboards and operate in Lagos State contrary to the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, (APCON) guidelines. But what seems to have drawn the anger of the Association the most is the publication in October 2021 by LASAA through which the agency had invited interested companies to bid for the auctioning of some major roads in the state for the purpose of having the sole concession to operate outdoor advertising on such roads for a period
EDITORIAL COMMENT
Infractions Of LASAA Against OAAN Members
of 10 years. LASAA has said that the objective is “to align the significant capital expenditure with a long term revenue frame work that will deliver the maximum benefits to both the state and the selected concessionaire.” The intention according to the Agency, obviously acting on behalf and with the approval of the Lagos State government is to use the concession to stimulate the growth of the advertising industry by creating enabling environment to attract significant investment as well as beautifying the state. However, OAAN is of the strong believe that LASAA’s stated reason for embarking on the concession route is at best a ruse, a stratagem that will lead to monopoly as well as to pushing current operators along the listed roads out of business. According to the OAAN President, Chief Emmanuel Ajufo, the Association sees the LASAA’s concession plan as a surreptitious and corrupt ploy through which the Agency’s leadership is planning to chase out members of the Association and hand over the routes, and ultimately outdoor advertising opportunities in Lagos state to money bags and cronies. Already, there are insinuations that
the Agency is working in the interest of some individuals close to the corridors of power and with bags of resources in this regard. But Ajufo added that such, if allowed would be detrimental to members of OAAN who would be the first casualties as many will lose businesses and their means of livelihood and the unemployment issues will increase as most of their members will have to sack their workers. Ajufo also stated that the distasteful and obnoxious plan will have spiral social effects on the environment which will suffer greatly from indiscriminate display of materials which will lead to visual blight. Added to that, the larger advertising industry would be adversely affected: rates would go up, and advertisers will seek cheaper alternatives including the social media platforms. Sources close to the association claim that OAAN is not only complaining but have made several attempts to seek audience with the state government, when it became obvious that LASAA was bent on its many infractions. Our source disclosed that at one of the many meetings with LASAA leadership, the Association was challenged
to go to court if not satisfied with LASAA ways. OAAN has however continued to seek other options notably through the very many attempts to seek audience with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu who, we expect as an administrator with the milk of human kindness, will grant the Association, an audience unlike the experience with his predecessors: Babatunde Raji Fashola and Akinwunmi Ambode, who did not consider it necessary to listen to the Association. Perhaps out of frustration for not having a direct access to Mr. Governor, OAAN recently published an Open Letter to the Governor in some national dailies as a last resort, both to draw his attention to the plight of OAAN members, and perhaps, without actually intending to do so, to take LASAA to the court of public opinion. The OAAN president has said that the intention was to draw the attention of the state government and let all concerned know that the planned concession is wrong and should not be allowed to continue. “That is the reason we have written to all concerned, the Governor, LASAA, as well as the Federal Ministry of Works to reconsider their decision,” he explained. While this LASAA-OAAN feud is raging, it is important to note that the All Progressives Congress, (APC) Chieftain and the party’s Presidential aspirant, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is one of the National Patrons of OAAN. He was so installed when he was the governor of Lagos State. It is therefore intriguing that LASAA
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EDITORIAL COMMENT
Infractions Of LASAA Against OAAN Members would want to stifle the business of members of an association of which the Jagaban Borgu is a patron. It is all the more unfathomable considering that Loatsad, a company in which one of the sons of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has stakes is a member of OAAN. But, perhaps the most intriguing part is why LASAA would be bent on granting concession of public roads, maintained by tax payers money, by, as it were, driving away people already doing business on the listed roads, only to bring in ‘investors’ by truncating the investments of those already doing business there. Why, for instance would LASAA not invite those currently operating on these routes and encourage them to up the ante, to meet the expectations of the state government whose objective the agency claimed prompted the concession plan? The Evils Of Concession: Concessions and franchises promote monopoly but in this case, it is an attempt to dislodge companies
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that are already operating, having being granted approval by the same LASAA in the first place. There is also the issue of effect on the environment. At the moment, there is a concession along the Lekki-Epe Expressway. The experience along that corridor is that of environmental nuisance manifesting in visual blight. The entire stretch is, at best a jungle of billboard contraptions which have badly taken away from the beauty of the environment. That certainly was NOT one of the reasons for which LASAA was created. The argument against concession therefore is that the environment would suffer as concessionaires would flood the affected roads with billboards of different shapes and sizes in their bid to recoup their investments. This fear becomes all the more feasible considering that one of the reasons given by LASAA is the need to rake in more money from the exercise. Way Forward: It is important that LASAA and OAAN agree on amicable resolution of
the current feud in order to promote a healthy and mutually rewarding business environment in which the outdoor advertising subsector thrives, not only for the mutual benefits of both organizations, but in the overall interest of the critical stakeholders notably the advertisers and the brands. LASAA may not be able to hold out for too long as a stiff-necked government agency considering that its many infractions also have implications on its image even among the advertisers, majority of who may shift their ad budget from out-of-home, thereby making nonsense of the LASAA’s pecuniary expectations from the planned concession. Again, there is the likelihood of prolonged litigation especially between LASAA and those operators that already got approvals from the Federal Ministry of Works, the statutory “owners” of some of the roads. This is avoidable at this moment. And, we feel LASAA should take an informed decision, and drop the idea. While it is the responsibility of LASAA to execute the Lagos State plans for the outdoor advertising sector, such should be done both within the dictates of extant relevant laws; and, more importantly, within the framework of decency, incorporating the interest of operators, especially OAAN members as well as that of the advertisers. In sum, His Excellency, Governor Olusola Babajide Sanwo-Olu should address this before it festers irredeemably. As the Chief Executive of the State, the bulk stops on his table. BV.
OAAN
OAAN Decorates Oonirisa, Emir Of Kano National Patrons
THE Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria, OAAN, has decorated two of leading traditional leaders in the country as National Patrons. They are the Arole Oduduwa, Olofin Adimula, Oonirisa, Oba Eniitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, Ooni of Ife and the Sarkin Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero. The colourful event which took place recently at the palaces of the two eminent traditional personalities, was a follow up to their unanimous appointment by the Association in 2021. Speaking at each of the colourful ceremonies Chief Emmanuel Ajufo President of OAAN had informed the traditional rulers that members were unanimous in their selection and appointment, which was in recognition of the fact that as custodians of the traditions and cultures of the nation, they occupied a pedestal that positioned them as formidable rallying point, for peace and national unity which are essentials of national economic growth. Ajufo informed each of the newly decorated National Patrons that OAAN
member companies operate their businesses across the country, hence the Association’s interest at ensuring the promotion of peaceful coexistence everywhere in the nation. Ajufo also informed the Oonirisa and the Sarkin Kano that OAAN members held them highly as custodians of wisdom and would henceforth be looking on to them as fathers in the hope of getting fatherly guidance from them on every issue of concern. He added that the decision to honour the traditional rulers was influenced by the Association’s conviction that such a step would ultimately be in the best interest of OAAN and the practice of Outdoor Advertising in the country. Ajufo said the emergence of the first class traditional rulers as national patrons for OAAN is because the out-ofhome business is routed in every area of the country and there was the need to give members who are in various parts of the country sense of belonging.
“Traditional rulers are individuals with high level integrity with wisdom that we can tap from because our businesses are routed in every part of the country and so, we got to relate with the cultures of the country. “Therefore, it is in demonstration of our high regard for the traditions and cultures of Nigeria that we are identifying with those that are custodians of those values” he said. The traditional rulers were also unanimous in their response, as the two royal fathers pledged their support which include helping OAAN overcome problems and challenges facing both the outdoor advertising and members of the Association. They both also urged OAAN to use their platforms to educate Nigerians on the importance of peaceful coexistence among Nigerians. They both acknowledged the power of the outdoor advertising media platforms and urged members to deploy such in fostering brotherly love across the Country.
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OAAN
OAAN Decorates Oonirisa, Emir Of Kano National Patrons The Ooni’s charge was that “because your platforms are always out there it is easy for people to relate with the messages on them, and that makes them veritable platforms to also teach people about the cultural values of Nigeria and to address some social vices and inculcate virtues that make up good neighborliness”. The Oonirisa Eniitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, Ooni of Ife, promised to support members of the Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria, OAAN in all areas that will help them achieve both their corporate and individual goals. He also encouraged them to seek ways to adopt technology in order to boost their business and enhance their continuous relevance in the marketing communication industry. The Sarkin Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero who expressed appreciation
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for the appointment and decoration also pledged to support the Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria, OAAN in every way possible to help members achieve their corporate objectives. He also charged the Association to at all times seek to contribute to the promotion and propagation of peaceful cooperation and coexistence in the country. He however urged OAAN to use their platforms to promote unity among Nigerians, saying: “it is when there is unity that there can be peace; and it is in an atmosphere of peaceful coexistence among the various groups in any nation that businesses can thrive productivity, fruitfully and profitably. He commended the Association for recognising traditional rulers as custodians of native wisdom and the cultural values of the nation; and for appointing them as National Patrons.
At the Ooni‘s palace, Chairman Board of Trustees of the Association Mr. Kole Ademulegun gave a brief history of OAAN saying that the morethan-50-years-old Association had had a chequered trajectory. The President was joined at Oonirisa’s Palace at Ile Ife by Otunba Kole Ademulegun and Mr Charles Chijide (respectively Chairman and Secretary of the OAAN BoT) as well as Sola Akinsiku the General Secretary and Tunde Oyekan, the Publicity Secretary. He was also joined on the trip to the Sarkin Kano, Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero’s palace by a member of the Board of Trustees, Alhaji Danladi Yaro and a Kano based member of the Association, Alhaji Yusuf Ibrahim. The General Secretary and the Publicity Secretary were also with him. BV.
THIS EDITION
BITS ON BRANDS
Ilediegwu Nkemakonam Joy
In this edition we continue to give brief notes about some of the leading brands, and our primary objective is to let our readers into some bits of information about the brands. In a way such knowledge will help to appreciate the trajectory of the growth stages that some of the leading brands had to go through.
IBOM AIR The airline commenced operations on June 7 2019 when a Bombardier CRJ900 aircraft marked Ibom Air took off from Victor Attah International Airport (IATA: QUO), Uyo, with government officials on board, en route to Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos. Akwa Ibom is the first state in the country to own an airline. Ibom Air said mission is its to set the standard as the airline of choice for customers in Nigeria, West Africa and beyond by focusing on service excellence. It has added more aircraft since 2019, when it commenced full operations. GUARANTY TRUST BANK Guaranty Trust Bank Limited (GTBank) is a multinational financial institution that provides individuals, businesses, private and public institutions across Africa and the United Kingdom with a broad range of market-leading
financial products and services. GTB was incorporated as a limited liability company licensed to provide commercial and other banking services to the Nigerian public since 1990 when Tajudeen Afolabi Adeola together with Tayo Aderinokun established the Bank. It has since developed as a brand beyond Nigeria to other African countries and United Kingdom. CWAY GROUP CWAY Group is a multinational company which specialises in the produc-
tion and whole-sale supply of treated water, water dispensers, soft drinks, foods, beverages Africa and Asia. In 1999, Mr. Onest Che founded CWAY group. a steadfast company in Nigeria committed in investments towards improving people’s lives. Since then, the company has been tending to consumers’ health needs and other high quality premium products. CWAY Nigeria Drinking Water Science & Technology Company was established in 2000 with headquarters in Shanghai, China with sixteen fully automated factories with state of the art technology in Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya & India. MAMADOR The Mamador Brand was launched in 2013 with cooking oil as the core product offering. The Brand is a healthy and tasty food brand that promises to make cooking and sharing delicious meals more rewarding. Mamador Oil is cholesterol-free. It contains Omega 6&9, proven to keep the heart healthy. It is triple filtered to ensure removal of all impurities. BRAND VISIBILITY • JUNE, 2022
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BITS ON BRANDS
MAMA’S PRIDE RICE Mama’s Pride rice is a premium quality Nigerian grown parboiled rice with natural nutrients and healthy value. The rice is specifically processed and package with high quality grains. It is stone free, fast and easy to cook with an end result that is firm and nonsticky. It is made in Nigeria and not contaminated in any way.
COLEMAN WIRES AND CABLES Coleman is committed to manufacturing cable, company with consistent quality wires and cables that meet and exceed customers’ expectations. The company was incorporated on the 1st of July, 1975 and started production in 1996 with the manufacturing of electrical wires and cables that meet international standards for oil industries, commercial and residential needs. The Company develops local industries that would in turn create jobs through the production of good quality products. OKOMU PALM OIL COMPANY PLC The Okomu Oil Palm Company was established in 1976 as a Federal Government pilot project aimed at rehabilitating oil palm production in Nigeria. At inception, the pilot project covered a surveyed area of 15 580 hectares out of which 12 500 hectares could be planted with oil palm. It was privitised in 1990, by the Technical
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Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation (TCPC). THE MILK BOOSTER It was founded by Dr Chinny after she struggled with producing sufficient breast milk for her first baby. She gave birth to Zuriel in 2016 and expected an easy breastfeeding experience but that wasn’t the case. Her baby was born small in weight and developed complications post-delivery that resulted in her admission into the neonatal intensive care unit. She had difficulties breastfeeding which continued same way after being home with her daughter for one month. The product has presence in Nigeria, UK, USA, Canada, Ghana, SA. GOD IS GOOD MOTORS (GIGM) GIGM, (God is Good Motors) is an African bus company, founded and headquartered in Nigeria. GIGM currently operates in Nigeria and Ghana, West Africa. It was established in 1998
and is known for moving commuters daily across Nigeria and Ghana. Founded by the enterprising couple Edwin and Stella Ajaere to provide bus services across Nigerian cities. Their son, Chidi Ajaere, took over administration of the company which led to a reinvention of the business in 2010. In 2019, GIGM expanded outside Nigeria and launched in Ghana with operating terminals in Accra and Kumasi, two of the country’s business centres. In February 2020, GIGM’s interface hinted at the launch of an intra-city transport service that would be technology-powered, called Danfo. GIGM pioneered a new way of transport with the launch of a stylish and simple bus travel app designed to help commuters have access to advance or real-time information on journey times and details, prices, delays and disruption. Since becoming GIG Mobility, the company has also seen a number of structural adjustments and has spun off a number of services powered by technology. GIGM also has a logistics company named GIG Logistics (GIGL) a courier and logistics services, Incorporated in 2012.The Company has service centres in Nigeria, Ghana and the United States of America. BV.
BRAND PERSONALITY
THIS EDITION
With Ilediegwu Joy
Connecting with the faces and personalities behind the brand STELLA OKOLI (EMZOR PHARMACEUTICAL)
ing Middlesex Hospital, London, Boots The Chemists Limited and Pharma-Deko. Okoli serves as the Vice President of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture. She also served as Chairman of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group and the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria.
RAYMOND ANTHONY ALEOGHO DOKPESI – (DAAR COMMUNICATIONS) This is a Pharmaceutical manufacturing company founded in 1977. Stella Okoli started Emzor Pharmaceutical with the initial name “Emzor Chemists Limited” as a small pharmacy retail shop in Somolu, Lagos State. Emzor Pharmaceutical has since become one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in Nigeria with over 50 products since its incorporation in 1984. Stella Okoli was born in Kano State, Northern Nigeria into the family of Felix Ebelechukwu and Margaret Modebelu, descents of Nnewi clan in Anambra State. She started her formal education in 1954 after enrolling as a pupil at All Saint Primary School, Onitsha before completing her secondary school education in 1964 at Ogidi Girls Secondary School, Ogidi. In 1969, Stella Okoli graduated from the University of Bradford after studying Pharmacy. She also holds an M.Sc. Certificate in Biopharmaceutical from the University of London, Chelsea College in 1971. Stella Okoli had worked in several pharmaceutical firms includ-
entrepreneur. His parents are from Agenebode, in Edo State in a family including six sisters’ siblings. Dokpesi started his early school with Loyola College Ibadan. After which he joined the Immaculate Conception College (ICC) Benin City where he was the pioneer member of Ozolua Play house, a dance/drama group. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Benin, Edo State and further studies in University of Gdansk, Poland where he earned his Doctorate degree in Marine Engineering. He entered the Nigerian Media industry with his company DAAR Communications and set-up the Nigerian TV network Africa Independent Television (AIT), He was the organizing committee chairman of the People’s Democratic Party national conference in 2015. Dokpesi has received awards to his credit on behalf of DAAR Communications Plc.
IFECHUKWUDE OSANADUMA JIDEONWO (JOY INC) DAAR communication is an independent privately owned broadcasting organization in Nigeria. It was established on August 31, 1998, by Raymond Dokpesi and on April 23, 2007 it was converted into a public liability company. It pioneered Africa Independent Television (AIT), Ray power 100.5 FM Abuja and Raypower 100.5 FM. The company is listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Raymond Anthony Aleogho Dokpesi (born 25 October 1951) in Ibadan is a Nigerian media
Chude Jideonwo (born 16 March 1985) is a Nigerian lawyer, journalist
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BRAND PERSONALITY
and media entrepreneur. He is the founder of Joy Inc., an American benefit corporation with a Nigerian subsidiary, which aims to make people happier. He has worked for several years in media, advertising and public relations. He is also involved in news, social media and youth lifestyles. Before Joy Inc., he led the African media group, Red Africa for 13 years, working on national elections and social movements in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Liberia. He is a co-founder of The Future Project, which is focused on inspiring leadership, building entrepreneurs, and using the media (traditional and new) as a tool for social change. Through Red Media and The Future Project, his team has successfully led communication campaigns for two Nigerian presidents and a Ghanaian President. Joy Inc mainstreams the evidence and research on human flourishing (positive psychology) and the power of emotions to transform the culture and build a new generation of Africans focused on the greatest happiness for the greatest many. They also focused on deploying the evidence to help change the global conversation about acceptable success metrics – in policy, business, economics, education, social movements and government. Help nations build joyful, flourishing citizens and communities and creating spaces of vulnerability, compassion and altruism using the latest thinking on human-centered models of economic growth and participatory democracies.
HAJIA BOLA SHAGAYA (BOLMUS GROUP INTERNATIONAL) Hajia Bola Muinat Shagaya was born
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on 10 October 1959, she is a Nigerian business mogul and fashion enthusiast; and the daughter of Adut Makur a Sudanese seamstress and Emenike Mobo a Nigerian Public Servant. She is currently married to Alhaji Shagaya, a Kwara State-based transport mogul. Bola Shagaya is the founder and CEO of Bolmus Group International, a conglomerate with holdings in real estate, oil and gas, banking and photography. She is one of the successful entrepreneurs in Nigeria, Africa and highly recognized. As a quintessential business leader in Africa and the world, Hajiya Shagaya is one of few Nigerian women that have succeeded in their careers by adding value to the society. Hajiya started her career after her tertiary education at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, and Armstrong College in California. She started out with the audit department of the Central Bank of Nigeria after which she went into business. Her business commenced with the importation and distribution of photographic materials. Later on, she went on and registered fotofair in 1997 which became one of the biggest photo laboratories in Nigeria.
ELON REEVE MUSK (SPACEX)
ELON REEVE MUSK was born June 28, 1971; a business magnate. He is the founder, CEO, and Chief Engineer at SpaceX; early-stage investor, Product Architect of Tesla,. Musk is the richest person in the world as of November 2021 with a net worth of around US$280 billion. Musk was born to a Canadian mother and South African father and was raised in Pretoria, South Africa. He briefly attended the University of Pretoria before moving to Canada at age 17 to Queen’s University. He transferred to the University of Pennsylvania two years later, where he received Bachelor’s degrees in economics and physics. He moved to California in 1995 to attend Stanford University but decided instead to pursue a business career, co-founding the web software company Zip2 with brother Kimbal. The startup was acquired by Compaq for US$307 million in 1999. The same year, Musk co-founded online bank X.com, which merged with Confinity in 2000 to form PayPal. The company was bought by eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion. In 2002, Musk founded SpaceX. Childhood, Musk developed a relentless work ethic (he is known to work as many as
BRAND PERSONALITY
80 to 120 hours per week) and a tenacious, single-minded vision. If there was a point of bright escape for Musk; it was technology. When he was only 10, he became acquainted with programming via the Commodore VIC20, an inexpensive home computer. Before long, he had become proficient enough to create Blastar—a video game in the style of Space Invaders. He sold the BASIC code for the game to a magazine called PC and Office Technology for $500. In addition to producing electric vehicles, Tesla maintains a robust presence in the solar energy space, thanks to its acquisition of Solar City. Founded in 2006, this
ers targeting several African countries. The company is also a logistics service, which enables the shipment and delivery of packages from sellers to consumers, and a payment service, which facilitates transactions among participants active and Jumia’s platform in selected markets. It has partnered with more than 110,000 active sellers and individuals and is a direct competitor to Konga in Nigeria. In 2012, Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec, ex-McKinsey consultants, founded Jumia. Sacha Poignonnec is a French-Canadian who graduated with an MBA from Edhec Business School in Paris. He joined McKinsey and Compa-
clean-energy-services company currently produces two rechargeable solar batteries, mainly used for stationary energy storage purposes. While the COVID-19 pandemic shattered the global economy in 2020 and put millions of people out of work, Tesla’s stock price increased 700%, adding $140 billion to Musk’s net worth.
ny strategy consulting firm in 2007. In 2012, he founded Jumia (formerly Africa Internet Group), also a former McKinsey and Jeremy Hodara is the Founder & Managing Director, Africa and France at Rocket Internet GmbH. Before joining Rocket Internet as Managing Director France, Jeremy Hodara worked at McKinsey in France, India and the US for 7 years where he was focusing on retail and e-commerce. Jumia was launched in Nigeria in 2012 and expanded to five other countries : Egypt, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Kenya and South Africa. In 2014, the compa-
JEREMY HODARA AND SACHA POIGNONNEC (JUMIA) Jumia is an online market place for electronics, and fashion among oth-
ny launched offices in Tunisia, Tanzania , Ghana , Cameroon , Algeria and Uganda , and by 2018 it was present in 14 African countries. In June 2013, Jumia launched Jumia Travel, a hotel booking platform, and Jumia Food, a food delivery platform. Jumia Deals was launched in April 2015. In 2017, Jumia launched Jumia One, an app that enables customers to pay bills such as airtime. The same year, Jumia launched JumiaPay, a secure payment for people to shop on all Jumia services. This was followed by the Jumia lending program, an initiative that allows its vendors to access business loans. Jumia would later partner with Amadeus technology to launch a platform that enables people to book flights. In 2015, Jumia generated $234 million in revenue, which stands for a 265% growth from 2014. In 2016, Jumia became the continent’s first unicorn being valued over 1 billion USD. In late November 2018, Jumia partnered with cryptocurrency company Telcoin to enhance payment service capabilities throughout their areas of operation. The same month, Jumia and Carrefour signed a partnership to sell online products in Africa.
UCHE PEDRO (BELLANAIJA)
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BellaNaija was founded by Uche Eze in 2006 as a media startup which later metamorphosed into BellaNaija.com while studying for her undergraduate degree at the Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario, Canada. BellaNaija in its early form featured scanned magazine articles, pictures and interviews of Nigerian fashion personalities. Uche maintained a low profile, with her identity hidden until BellaNaija began to have over 1 million hits every month. Under her leadership, BellaNaija’s social footprint has grown through its collective brands - BellaNaija.com, BellaNaija Weddings and BellaNaija Style - to be the largest on the African continent with more than 200 million impressions each month. BellaNaija started on a free platform (www.bellanaija.blogspot.com) on the 1st of July 2006 before moving to bellanaija.com, Each time Uche visit Nigeria during holidays, she could not help but observe the growing improvements in fashion, entertainment and business. She felt it will be nice to showcase these improvements to the world and that is how blogging started. Inspired to start something that represented this exciting young vibe in the country when she came to Nigeria and observe the growing improvements in fashion, entertainment, and business. Uche Pedro (Uchenna Jennifer Eze) was born on 26th of July, 1984 and had her primary and secondary school education in Nigeria before moving to Canada where she obtained her Bachelor’s in Business Administration. Uche Eze Pedro started with a post-graduation job with Shell Canada, then Cadbury Middle East and African Unit in UK and finally Cadbury In Nigeria. She is a Nigeria Leadership Initiative associate and a Fellow of TEDGlobal.
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Uche is also a member, Board of Director of LEAP (Leadership, Effectiveness, Accountability and Professional) Africa, a non-profit organisation founded in 2002. In 2016, she won the African Blogger of the Year award at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards. In 2017, Uche was invited as a civic leader making a difference around the world for the first-ever Obama Foundation Summit and participated in the Stanford Seed Transformation Programme. In February 2018, Uche featured in the annual OkayAfrica100 Women campaign, celebrating extraordinary women from Africa and the diaspora making waves across a wide array of industries, while driving positive impact in their communities and the world at large.
FUNKE BUCKNOROBRUTHE
Is a Nigerian entrepreneur and lawyer. She is the founder and CEO of Zapphaire Events and is regarded as one of Nigeria’s pioneering event planners. Zapphaire Events is a bespoke event management company with a wealth of experience in event management, event solutions and coordination services for over 18 years, having planned, produced and coordinated over 1,000 events. Bucknor-Obruthe was born to Segun and Shola Bucknor in Lagos State, Nigeria. She began her basic and sec-
ondary school education at Fountain Nursery and Primary School, Lagos, and Nigeria Navy Secondary School, Lagos, before she studied Law at the University of Lagos. In 2000, she was called to bar after attending the Nigerian Law School in Abuja. After practicing law briefly, Bucknor-Obruthe was employed at Tie Communications, an advertising agency, where she worked for a short period. In 2003, her love for event planning made her start Zapphaire Events, an independent event planning enterprise. She has since gone on to plan and organize several high-profile events within and outside Nigeria and has won awards and recognition including being featured in CNN’s Inside Africa for planning a Nigerian royal wedding. Some of these include the Future Award for “Entrepreneur of the Year” (2006), the Wedding Planner Magazine Award for “Wedding Planner of the Year” (2007), Go2girl Life Achievement Awards (2011), Nigerian Events Awards for Outstanding Contribution to the Events Industry (2012). Funke started her event planning company at a time when event planning was a non-existent industry in Nigeria and she has grown it from a three-man company to having over 40 full-time employees and over 200 contract staff. Going by the excellence of her work, Zapphaire Events is responsible for very many high-profile and regular events within and outside Nigeria. Funke is also the founder of Furtullah Concept & Design, a decor company which she started to fill a gap observed in the Nigerian events industry. In 2014, Nigerian online magazine YNaija listed Bucknor-Obruthe in its “10 Most Powerful Under-40s in Business”. BV.
\\\ BRAND ESSENCE /// With Tosin Adebayo
This edition has bits on some of the everyday use brands. A subtle presentation on how to get help from them, put together to engender the choices of our readers, where such brands are required.
1. LISTERINE TEETH & GUM DEFENCE
sink is not left out to make the best out of 2sure and save time, energy on utensils. 2Sure dishwashing liquid comes in fresh lemon and original flavors.
3. FAMILIA ULTRASTRAWBERRY
Listerine Teeth & Gum Defence Milder Taste Fights germs above and below the gum line to help prevent plaque and gum disease and for stronger teeth and healthier gums It reduces plaque to keep gums healthy and even works below the gum line, helps to prevent gum problems and contains fluoride to strengthen teeth to help protect against cavities.
Familia ultra-strawberry scented tissue is a high-quality toilet tissue and kitchen towel that is made of 100% pure cellulose. It is soft, highly absorbent and comfortable for use either as a facial tissue, napkin, bathroom tissue or household towel. It is a product manufactured and distributed within Nigeria and several other countries. It contains 100% virgin pulp giving it that luxurious feel and therefore mak-
5. RADIANT DETERGENT POWDER
Radiant detergent powder retains colors on clothes without fading • Keeps white clothes clean and dazzling, removes tough stains with less effort, retains colors on clothes without fading, keeps white clothes clean and dazzling and gives a cool fragrance.
6. ORIJIN TIGERNUT AND GINGER
2. 2SURE DISHWASHING LIGUID 2Sure presents new Ultra-sharp grease - cutting power dishwashing liquid that cuts through oily and greasy stains on dishes, leaving them sparkling clean, and making them good as new. The kitchen
harsh salty taste – has perfect and mild blend with foods and on the tongue.
ing it septic safe.
4. MR. CHEF COOKING SALT Mr. Chef pure and iodized cooking salt is perfect for healthy cooking and delicious seasoning of various types of meals. It is produced under a high-quality control standard. No
Orijin Tigernut and Ginger is a unique sweet spirit, blended with the flavours of specially selected African herbs and Ginger, combined to give a bitter-sweet taste. Orijin Tigernut and
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8. HONEYWELL SPAGETTI Honeywell Pasta’s quality does not stick together or get soggy when cooked, it retains its freshness and firmness for much longer after preparation; so, it can be prepared well ahead and kept in a cooler. Honeywell Pasta has a unique aroma and a pleasant taste. This makes it very pleasurable for eating. Honeywell Pasta swells up when cooked thus it gives a higher yield. This attribute is important for larger families as well as food vendors.
9. LOYD GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP TEA
Ginger exist to promote the vibrancy of modern African culture according to the promoters.
7. POWER OIL
Power oil is known for its health benefits. It is refined, has NO CHOLESTEROL and is absolutely free of transfat according to the promoters. It is a heart-friendly cooking oil which is not only loaded with nutrients like Vitamin A & E, etc. but also takes care of the family’s heart.
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The functional tea line is made up of herbal blends of the highest “pharmaceutical” quality. The tea’s ingredients, which include lemon balm, chamomile, hops, and mint, provide a soothing effect and aid in the physiological procedure of falling asleep. The perfectly blended herbal mixes are packaged in flavor-neutral pyramid bags that, thanks to novel smooth material, release the aroma and flavor contained in the blend even more effectively. Furthermore, the three-dimensional shape of tea bags allows tea leaves to fully unfurl and release full aroma, resulting in a high-quality infusion – just
like if it were brewed with a tea-infuser.
10. GRAND CORNFLAKES
Grand Cornflakes is a crisp and crunchy Ready-To-Eat (RTE) breakfast cereal produced using extrusion technology (as against traditional cooking method) which ensures that nutrients are fully preserved with product uniformity. BV.
COVER
ON AISOP, ADVAN Disagrees ...APCON Insists It’s Best For Industry
Saidat Alausa THE Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, (APCON) established in 1988 was to make provisions for the control of advertising practice in the country. Acting within the framework of this statutory responsibility, the Council recently, with the approval of the Minister for Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed approved the implementation of the Advertising Industry Standards of Practice (AISOP) with effect from October 6th, 2021. The AISOP according to APCON provides minimum standardized commercial terms for agencies, advertisers, media houses, advertising services providers and stakeholders, in matters relating to the business of advertising and marketing communications in Nigeria. AISOP seeks to improve mutual respect, eradicate unfair advantage, unethical competition and inequitable engagement terms between and among stakeholders in the Advertising and Marketing Communication sector of the economy. The Council also stated that AISOP is
in line with the Federal Government’s plans aimed at accelerating the pace of economic recovery post pandemic era, to enhance gainful employment, attract talents and investment to the industry as well as overhaul the regulatory framework of the Nigerian Advertising Industry. With the conviction that this new development in the sector will be of benefit to the industry, Heads of Advertising Sectoral Group (HASG) made a joint press statement to support the AISOP document. The signatories to the statement included the President, Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), Steve Babaeko; President, Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria (MIPAN), Femi Adelusi; President, Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN), Emmanuel Ajufo and President, Experiential Marketers Association of Nigeria (EXMAN), Tunji Adeyinka. The bodies agreed the effective date for AISOP implementation as October 6, 2021 in line with the pronouncement by the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON).
But there was strong opposition by the Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN) which rejected the implementation of the AISOP guidelines. ADVAN obviously the ones that picks the bills of all forms of advertisements on all the media, said the document makes an unconstitutional attempt to infringe on the rights of private entities to determine their contractual terms. In a statement ADVAN Acting President, Bunmi Adeniba, before emergence of Mr. Osamede Uwabommwen as President, said the group was in support of the plan to create a Standard of Practice but noted that the Supreme Court had, in many decisions, pronounced that the rationale for freedom of contract is founded on public policy. This means parties of full age and competent understandings are deemed to have the utmost liberty of contracting, and that their contracts when entered freely and voluntarily must be held sacred and be enforced by courts of law. Adeniba said as principal benefactors of advertising services, ADVAN’s input in AISOP was yet to be fully accommodated.
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On AISOP, ADVAN Disagrees “The guidelines are void of critical elements that protect the rights and interest of the ADVAN community”, she declared. Adeniba insisted that the guidelines did not serve the collective interest of all the relevant sectors but rather permits unfair authority of certain parties over others and creates an unfriendly business framework. “It portrays a clear indication of discriminatory standards where the AISOP document in section 5 sub section b (Discounts and Commissions) states that: “No party will unilaterally dictate or impose rates on another party except as may be mutually agreed upon by the parties. “However, in the summary submitted to the press, there is a clause that states: “Media rates may be increased at any time provided that at least 30 days’ notice is given prior to implementation. “Latter of which was not included on original documents, further portraying an inconsistency in expectation. “ADVAN requests that in all instances, the condition of a mutually agreed terms by both parties be upheld and not only as it applies to expectations from Advertisers.” The statement said the government has a specific and critical role in supporting industry development by providing fair and enabling legislation and guidelines for ethical business practices. The association demanded that the involvement should not overrule the constitutional rights of business entities to conduct legitimate activities. “The perception of a discriminatory regulatory system will be counterproductive to the collective objective of
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creating a conducive business environment”, Adeniba added. The APCON Registrar in his response, made available to Brand Visibility said that there are lots of misconceptions about the AISOP. He explained that unlike the narrative out there, the AISOP seeks to improve mutual respect, eradicate unfair advantage, unethical competition and inequitable engagement terms between stakeholders in the advertising and marketing communication sector of the economy. Fadolapo, who noted that APCON had sought to carry all the sectorial groups along following the policy brief of the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed on the terms of the Advertising Code, was however miffed that the groups’ antagonism to the proposed policy was uncalled for. He explained that CBN, SEC, NCC, NAICOM and other regulatory agencies moderate their respective sectors and set guidelines for operators in line with their establishment Acts and the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria as well as promote economic growth and development and that was what APCON has done for the advertising industry. APCON Registrar explained further that the Heads of Advertising Sectoral Groups (HASG) and other stakeholders have publicly endorsed the AISOP as well as commended APCON adding only ADVAN that has rejected it. He added that the position of ADVAN could be viewed as a gang-up by few multinationals and conglomerates against the Federal Government policy of inclusive growth in the SME sector in
APCON Registrar, Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo
particular and the Nigerian economy in general as their position simply implies that the current challenges plaguing the industry should continue unabated, which will lead to loss of jobs in the industry, promote unethical practices and unhealthy rivalry. “Some business-friendly multinationals and conglomerates are incredibly supportive of service providers in the advertising ecosystem with pro-enterprise engagement terms, rewarding remuneration system, payment cycle, etc. “Their policies are better than what is being proposed by AISOP as Industry minimum operating standard. We will endeavour to give credit to them as we move forward on the issue.” He added that the advertising Industry reform has the capacity of creating over 100,000 jobs in the sector in the first 12 months of full implementation, improve salary payment to employees in the industry, attract more talents and investment as well as reposition the industry in Nigeria for growth. “APCON is committed to constantly improving the practice and business of advertising in Nigeria and shall always welcome productive ideas that will enable her deliver the best of conducive
COVER
On AISOP, ADVAN Disagrees business environment in line with her establishment Act, Federal Government policies and public interest,” he stated. Now, ADVAN has a substantive president having elected Mr. Osamede Uwabommwen into that position. And on the AISOP issue Osamede while not shifting quite significantly from the ADVAN position believes all stakeholders should still have a review of some of the provisions of the document. This in his view would help to accommodate the interest of all. Process leading to AISOP: According to APCON Registrar / Chief Executive Officer, sequel to the approval by the Honourable Minister of Information and Culture, on the need for a business regulatory framework as part of the advertising industry reform, the Council wrote to all the sectoral groups and stakeholders requesting for memorandum on industry standards, terms of engagement and other business protocols. A committee was thereafter set up with representatives of sectoral groups (ADVAN inclusive) to come up with an Industry Standard of Practice. The committee met and proposed the AISOP document. APCON thereafter had a working session with the committee and engaged in detailed discussion on the proposed contents of the document. Each sectoral group’s views and points were discussed and APCON moderated a win-win situation in line with best practices and Federal Govern-
ment policies. All other sectorial groups made concessions based on the maxim of equity, fair play and government efforts aimed at growing the economy The document was later presented to the Minister for Information and Culture for approval in line with the APCON’s establishment Act. Highlights of the AISOP 1. Media Rates Deregulation: No sector of the Industry should cap or determine what media houses should charge as media advert rates going forward. However, media houses should give 30 days’ notice before implementation of new media rate. Advertisers and agencies should accord Nigeria media houses the same mutual respect they accord foreign media operating in Nigeria and align with best practices. 2. Credit Policy: In line with best practices, payment for media and other advertisement services should be done within 45 days. Payment after 45 days will attract interest at prevailing CBN interest rate. Advertisers and agencies should honour advertising and marketing communications invoice promptly. All parties must be transparent in their dealings. 3. Agency Engagement Process: Pitch procedure should be professionalized. Parties in pitch process must
respect Nigeria’s copyright Law. Pitch fee should be paid to agencies that participated in a pitch process in line with best practices. Profile Presentation, Agency Visit, Meet and Greet are free, however, Strategy and/or Creative Presentation will attract pitch fees if the agency participates in a pitch. 4. Agency Disengagement Policy: Where advertisers decide to disengage an agency, the incoming agency, outgoing agency and the advertiser must reconcile all financial obligations. The outgoing agency must hand over the assets and liabilities of the account to the new agency as this will enable stakeholders track financial obligations and responsibilities. 5. Contract: Going forward, all contracts of advertisement, advertising and marketing communications should be in writing and duly signed by parties involved in the contract. 6. Implementation Date: All existing contracts, MPO, LPO and other POs should serve out their engagement terms; however, new engagement with effects from October 6th, 2021 should align with AISOP. With this development, stakeholders are on the watch even as the implementation of the guidelines has started as planned. BV.
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NIPOST: Challenges Facing Courier, Logistics Operators End Soon THE General Manager, Courier and Logistics Regulatory Department (CLRD) of the Nigerian Postal Service, (NIPOST), Mr. Gideon Shonde recently disclosed steps already taken by his department to reduce challenges facing the courier and logistics business in the country. Speaking in an exclusive interview with Brand Visibility in his Lagos office Mr. Shonde said, though NIPOST as a regulator and as an operator, is also confronted with similar challenges but what NIPOST is doing and will continue to do is to engage other stakeholders because the challenges did not just come. “People are behind these issues and we have come to realise that the solutions will not come by sitting behind
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our desks and talking. “So, what we have been doing is to engage those who are responsible for those challenges, we try to understand the source of the challenges and look for those behind the challenges.” He said the department has discovered that operators experience daily harassment from the Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and the Road Transporters Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN); but they have no business whatsoever to do so. Shonde also added that COVID-19 lockdown period brought about proliferation of those who have no business in courier business. According to him such people have no professional training; no ethical value; no registra-
tion and no license. Some don’t even have identifiable offices, they just transform from being professional Okada riders to dispatch or courier delivery people and this is affecting the business greatly. “We are combining forces and going into smart symbiotic relationship with government agencies like we are working right now with the Nigeria Police, Nigeria Customs, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA and even the Handling companies because those who are into international air courier are having different set of challenges from these independent dispatch riders. “All the stakeholders, government agencies who have something to do with the security safety we engage
SPECIAL FOCUS
‘Illegal Operators Are Many But...’ them on behalf of the licensed operators in order to reduce the challenges,” he said. In his response to the issues of multiple taxation, Mr. Shonde said it is not double taxation as perceived by the operators because the state has a right to collect tax and rates on certain items for instance on vehicles. “If you are using that vehicle for delivery or for dispatch they have a right to ask you for that vehicle license, that’s not double taxation. They are not asking you for license for the service that’s where we come in. “They do not have the statutory mandate to license courier, logistics delivery, and dispatch. It is not double taxation, the state has a right to collect tax and rates on certain items for instance your vehicle, if you are using that vehicle for delivery or for dispatch they have a right to ask you for that vehicle license that’s not double taxation,” he explained. He urged stakeholders especially those in government to work on improving the industry because the employment opportunities therein are huge. Shonde said though illegal operators who are not actually accounted for are many but from their data base, over 20,000 Nigerians are employed formally. He added that the revenue rate is close to about $500bn dollars with a GDP of about 3.4. “It is a big market, it is a huge market because it has to do with other things and it propels other sectors. It is an employment generation sector of the
economy. Given the size and the population of Nigeria, the country’s rating in IPU remains on the average, According to him, “we are not up there but we are not doing badly. I know we are not at the bottom of the ladder and I know we are not on top of the ladder.” While estimating the exact size of courier and logistics market in a mega city like Lagos, Shonde said; “being modest, 40 per cent of the courier and logistic market is in Lagos and you can share the remaining 60 per cent amongst the other parts of the country. “We have made huge contributions in the last six months of 2021. This department has been around for about twenty years. It was set up like a rallying point for the operators, the stake-
holders and the investors. We discovered that going to Abuja may be cumbersome, before you see the Minister for Communication and Digital Economy and before you get some things done it takes a long time and so the Post Master General is mandated by statutory provision to exercise some of the powers of the Minister, including the power of licensing and others. “The Post Master General is in Abuja and so is the Minister. A department was created in 2001 to serve that purpose. This is an office under the office of the Post Master General of the Federation. The PMG of course reports to the Minister of Communication. “This office was provided as a rallying point for the operators. Like I told you not less than forty percent of cou-
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‘As Regulator Operator, We Face Same Challenges’ rier operators are in Lagos. There is no need to travel to Abuja; they have us here and we attend to their needs. To save cost, time and even life; to create conducive environment to attend to their business; for ease of doing that business, this department was established by statutory provision in 2001. “We have had five General Managers and I’m the current one. Like I said we came into office September 1, 2020 amidst the ease of the lock down. How do you see NIPOST helping the operators to surmount some of the challenges confronting the business now? The truth here is that NIPOST as a regulator and as an operator is also confronted with those challenges too so they are not exclusively reserved for the private operators like some of them are thinking. Whatever affects them affects us. It will interest you to know that we have what is called the EMS Parcels Nigeria, that is the organ that is competing. So when some of them ignorantly say NIPOST is competing with them it amuses me. You can’t even compete with NIPOST because it’s a social service provider everything that we process in NIPOST, that we offer is subsidized, we are not charging commercial rates. NIPOST is present in almost all the local governments in Nigeria. Some of these operators are not even present in all the local governments in Lagos. There are some unreached postal areas and we have to reach them. Now, how do we now service that? How
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do we maintain the cost? How do we pay the staff that is there? We provide social services and our rates are not commercial. We have our own share of challenges confronting the industry. The EMS is the courier arm that actually experiences the similar things that they experience and then we have the conventional dispatch riders too and they too are daily harassed. And the only leverage is NIPOST. “This service is about time sensitivity, it is time bound and it is a business of trust. In the course of stopping the dispatch rider, touts cart away things from the box. The other one is just distracting him the one at the back is actually pilfering. Pilfering is an offence so the dispatch rider is going to be penalized for what is not his fault. “We are also faced with these challenges. Some of our riders in EMS and post office are daily harassed so it is not peculiar to private sectors and we cannot fold our arms now as regulators. This department is professionally manned and it is operationally struc-
tured such that if I have not worked in that industry I have no business operating it. NIPOST is not competing with the private courier companies, the arm competing with them is the EMS and the EMS is also under our supervision. We are licensed like these other operators are licensed. As we regulate them, we regulate the EMS too. The only snag is we are still tied to the apron strings of NIPOST and it is supposed to be an independent outfit going by the clamour for. It will interest you to know that just recently a bill was passed by the House of Representatives. We are expecting that the Senate concurs to it and shortly the Presidential assent will also come and NIPOST will be free from this burden and the idea of NIPOST being an operator and a regulator will become a thing of the past. “It is not NIPOST making as a matter of fact like I said NIPOST is burdened by no financial implication from the little meagre revenue we also get, we use it to do this function and the best anyone can do is to appreciate NIPOST because that is a kind gesture. “Talking about the challenges proper, what we are doing and what we will continue to do is to engage other stakeholders because the challenges did not just come, people are behind these issues and we have come to realise that these issues cannot be solved by sitting behind our desks and talking. So, what we have been doing is to engage those who are responsible for those challenges, we try to understand the source of the challenge and look for those behind them. Like the daily harassment you men-
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‘We’ve Engaged LGs To End Harassments’ tioned, we discovered that this comes from the Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers or Road Transporters Employers Association of Nigeria, RTEAN and they have no business whatsoever. COVID-19 brought about proliferation of those who have no business in this business, no professional training; no ethical value; no registration and no license. Some don’t even have offices, they just transform from being professional Okada riders to dispatch or courier delivery people. Most of them have no licenses and some their bikes don’t even have plate number. You have customers with lots of complaints coming here. We just arrested one recently at Ojuelegba, in Lagos, that had no license and someone is getting wedded on Saturday and the delivery was not made meanwhile he is using the name of a licensed operator. So, the licensed operator was now being harassed by the client about the undelivered item even after payment. We mobilized the enforcement team and clamped down on the unlicensed operator and when we look at the record in the last eight years he has been operating, he had worked in Courier Plus before he decided to emerge without due process. Now the customer was in big mess she could not use the wedding gown in Abuja. We have that bunch of serious problem in our industry. That in itself is our challenge actually. Again, there are thousands of unlicensed operators out there. These touts out there just impersonate the local government officials because we have met with the local government officials, we met with the Commissioner
for Local Government in Lagos, and we have met with the Honorable Commissioner for Transport in Lagos. The question then is who is behind these challenges? Who is sponsoring these guys, these are faceless people who decided to take advantage of these same people because they know they do not have the required licenses to operate. For every job they collect money from them and they give willingly because they know they do not have a license and can only grumble behind. But you can never find such complaints from DHL, UPS and other licensed ones because their compliance level is higher. Unfortunately, the compliance of the independent dispatch riders this one- man, two-man gang Okada is very low. Most of them are unlicensed, so they can’t come to us, they only grumble behind and they are also criminals. “We have engaged the Association of Local Governments Organization of Nigeria, the Commissioner, we have engaged all the stakeholders as regards this daily harassment and this is what we have discovered and we are still engaging them. We are coming up with this digitalized sticker, rider’s card and sticker such that it is tied to your license and tied to your company so with the phone we can always scan and know who is licensed or who is not. We have started and we will continue to clamp down on them too because they are not known to the Ministry of Transport, Lagos State. They are not known to the Local Government. But we have traced them and we have
discovered that they are National Union Road Transport Workers and we have begun to engage those union too and to let them understand they don’t have a statutory power or right. This business is about time and it’s about trust so when those guys who are passing themselves off as Local Government workers, if truly we establish that they are Road Transport Union Workers then we know exactly where to take the battle to. Secondly, on the issue of the multiple taxation, it’s a challenge because of the systemic problem I say systemic problem, and the law is very clear we have the concurrent list of governance and we have the exclusive list of governance. What is contained in the concurrent list cannot also be contained in the exclusive list so maybe some government agencies are trying to take advantage or fill in the gaps. Let me give you an instance, we’ve engaged the Ministry of Transport Lagos State. They do not have the statutory man-
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‘As Regulator, We’re Facing Some Challenges’ date to license courier, logistics delivery, and dispatch operators. Whatever you call them they don’t have that mandate, the mandate they have by the state traffic law, they can register them. I mean if you are operating with a bike you are supposed to get that bike licensed by them just like your vehicle cars and trucks. It’s not for them to give license for the service but they are trying to do that. But those who do not know this limit of the people conclude that there is double taxation. It is not double taxation. The state has a right to collect taxes on certain items for instances your vehicle. If you are using that vehicle for delivery or for dispatch they have a right to ask you for that vehicle license that’s not double taxation. They are not asking you for license for the service that’s where we come in. Let me give you an example. In 2018, Lagos State passed a law and there was a directive by the Governor to remove all Okadas from the roads. Yes, they have a right for the type of motorization they want but they can’t stop them. The operators approached us and we engaged the Ministry of Transport. We met with the Honorable Commissioner and we discussed with them that people need that same vehicle, motorcycle for their service, and that the state could not place a blanket ban on all Okada riders. We told them some are not passenger boarding riders; that they are carrying sensitive goods and items and on trust and they need that vehicle to operate. The government officials agreed with us and they came up with their own terms. Anyone who was going to use motor-
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people not having an understanding of government workings. People are also wont to criticize anything that has to do with tax. The oil revenue base is the in thing but the primary source of government revenue anywhere in the world is taxation. It has always been there, it’s just an ignorance of government workings on the part of most of our people.
bike because of the emission problem should use the bike with 200CC, engine. It should be power bike not just any bike. We approached them again because not many people can afford it. Power bike is almost N900, 000 or more. We told them this will kill the business. So, the courier operators were exempted and they can ply any route and that was what Lagos state did as a result of our intervention. So, if they ask for let’s say carriage permit it’s within their mandate and it is not double taxation. People do not want to pay tax, people enjoy evading tax and without the tax you cannot maintain these infrastructures. Lagos State maintains the Lagos roads, the Federal government maintains federal roads. Now, someone has to pay for that and if you do not want to pay for that and you are complaining that it is double taxation then you do not know what you are saying. So, it’s an issue of
How can Nigerians avoid quacks in the dispatch services? Number one thing we have been doing is making ourselves visible by talking to the people from the media. We have actually had quite a number of sensitization programmes, both on radio and on television. We were recently at Traffic Radio and on NTA where we actually had some sessions. I was on Morning Ride also on TVC. We have been doing that and we intend to continue to do that. The more visible we are the more sensitization programme we engage, the more enlightenment activities that we do, the better. We have been exploring that on some of these programmes. The members of the Nigerian public are not ignorant. We will keep ensuring that people are well educated and know their rights. You have a right not to patronize illegal operators; you have a right to know those who are operating illegally. Now let me take a cue from there, we have a web portal, we are on social media and as you are seated here if you Google it, you will get to that point all the activities we have in our newsletter are there and all that we do. You will also find the list of approved
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‘We’ve Engaged LG’s To End Harassment’ registered courier and logistics operators. So it is just for you to check and to know whom to patronize and who not to patronize. We make available to corporate bodies the list of registered courier operators every month.. I just signed the list that we are circulating to the market places and to the corporate world. So we have those people that we have targeted and we furnish them with that list. You can also assess it on our website. “We have done so much in that area. We also focus on enlightenment and enforcement and recently we were in Ibadan to clamp down on illegal operators there. Just recently too, we were at Benin in Edo State. I was with the Deputy Governor, we tried to engage the state government too and this makes the monitoring easier. You will agree with me that it has to do with National security because most of these quacks cannot be traced and some are into drugs. Recently, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA just rolled out their five-year plan and we should be interested because we are in a symbiotic relationship with the NDLEA, Customs and all the other government agencies. Most of these quacks are the ones who deal in illegal drugs, small ammunitions and a host of prohibited items. You can’t trace them as they do not have any license. They are faceless and of course they do not want to pay tax. Also, it is not just an issue of security it is also an issue of safety because before now most of these guys who will cause havoc on the road are not those who are licensed and
have a name to protect. These other guys don’t have a name they are not a brand so if you hit one of them you see an army of them pouncing on you. I have seen that several times on the road. That is unethical, a licensed operator who has a name to protect will not engage in such things. Other road users are also at risk because of these unprofessional activities. Lots of social vices are happening through these people. So, apart from the security implications I just told you, there is safety implication. Then the negative corporate image for the industry and for the nation as a whole because we have the multinationals operating here. “For this set of operators, they are properly dressed, the safety measures are there, the helmet is there and the wind breaker. The vehicle is branded, they get their papers right but most of those local indigenous brothers and sisters of ours most of them don’t want to operate by the rules and that is part of why they are having challenges. By the time we arrested one or two we discovered what they were
carrying drugs, small arms and ammunitions. Some even carry hard currency which is prohibited. These are some of the reasons they would not want to be licensed. They don’t want to be registered and they won’t want to be traced because of the nefarious activities. These are part of the challenges we are facing from the regulatory environment. We are combining forces going into smart symbiotic relationship with other government agencies like we are working right now with the Nigeria Police. They are always part of our enforcement teams. The Inspector General of Police is also on board and we are working with the Force CID Alagbon. We are also working with the Customs, NDLEA even the Handling companies because those who are into international air courier are having different set of challenges from these independent dispatch riders. They have their own challenges with the Nigeria Customs, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, and NAFDAC. So, all the stakeholders, government agencies
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‘Unbundling NIPOST ‘ll Provide Funds’
who have something to do with the security and safety, we engage them on behalf of the licensed operators. The major players, the multinationals, don’t you think they are killing local initiative? Well, I have not been to many countries and Nigeria is my home and I love Nigeria. So, if you say they have more space here in Nigeria than in their country I do not know why you said so but we are the ones clamoring for direct foreign investments. These companies have been around now for as far back as 1985/87. DHL came into Nigeria around that bracket. UPS to be precise and many others. But not all of them survived. Those who survived were because they have this direct foreign investment. The issue here is that we discovered that some of them had not built the capacity, for most of them their asset is on hire purchase and of course there will be capital flight. The employment rates, we have 90 percent Nigerians there although they are
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multinationals but they are foreign investors so it’s a win win situation. With the local operators, you discover that they find it so hard to employ Nigerians on full time, what you find is part time workers, adhoc staffs. It is a systemic thing, NIPOST is supposed to be the retail end of all government businesses. If you retire working in Abuja, you will still have to go to Abuja to go and collect your pension. But with NIPOST where you are in that remotest part notwithstanding as long as there is a post office there you can get this thing done. Why do we like oppressing ourselves? Why do we like making things difficult for ourselves? Yes, there is mobile phones now but if you go to London, you will still see phone booths. But why don’t we have phone booths here, this is beyond NIPOST. It is not NIPOST issue it is a systemic issue. Now if we don’t embrace our own and we embrace things of others this is what you get. The next question you are likely going to say is that technology has eroded the services and operations of NIPOST. This is not new in whatever we do as a people; because we are in a digital economy and we are part of the value chain of that digital economy. NIPOST is an infrastructure and NIPOST in an ideal setting is the retail end of every government transaction for security reasons, safety reasons, national pride and corporate image. That is why it is withheld. Most of the multinationals, Embassies, High Commissions, they don’t want to patronize us they would rather patronize the one that is from their country. Don’t forget
it is a free entry and exit market, it is going to be anti-business if we want to use the law to compel the American embassy to patronize us, they prefer to patronize their own. Why are they doing that? Its national pride and interest so we as Nigerians we need to take interest in our Nation’s pride. In the attempt to unbundle NIPOST are we not making the matters worse? If NIPOST is not adequately and properly funded, the service cannot qualitative. It is not going to attract as much customers if you are not looking at innovative products and ideas and infusing them into the system. Now, if the private and foreign ones are doing that and they are not financed or funded by country of origin but by private individuals, is it not better? If funding is going to be the problem and we have the private partners funding to avoid that breakdown. For instance, if we are able to get private partnerships or people who have invested and they are able to pump in money to take care of the infrastructure, is it not better? That is the idea of unbundling. When the Post Office or some of the services are unbundled, it is given to private individuals they are able to do the needful, the proper thing, they make the institution strong and it is going to be better for the nation because if the government is not going to fund it and we are able to get private people to do the funding, to my mind I think it’s okay. Won’t that be going contrary to
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‘We’re In Relationship With NDLEA’ the tenets of International Postal Union? That has always been a big problem; it is part of what people outside government see as a challenge to them. You see, government has one business; the government business is to make policies, to regulate and to implement those policies and to enforce it. That is government’s business. Outside that they get revenue through taxes and rates and what have you. The other things should be left to the private sector. I am an apostle of that. To answer the question, for that government agency to be sustained there should be exclusive reserved areas. So, for the post, there are exclusive reserved areas. You can’t for reasons of security, commit into the hands of private what is meant for the government, like regulation is government business, so the government still holds that power of regulating. It is for the government to now implement the regulation and policies I think that is where we will have a better thing. Between 500grams to 50 kg is exclusively reserved for the public postal operators. That is NIPOST exclusive reserved but you find out that private operators are contesting that is anti-business. In fact, they had an issue with the review, we had a review of the regulations to accommodate recent market dictate and some of them actually kicked against it. To them they felt its anti-commission, its anti-business. It should be a free fall free market but the government is still holding on. Till today we still have Government Reserved Areas (GRA) in Nigeria so you can’t just give all your power in the
name of looking for money. You have to protect the rights of the citizens. I believe that even when that unbundling is done, it is not contrary to the IPU, no it is not. We cannot stick to what is not working for us, don’t forget Nigeria is a signatory to that. If it is not working, then we should look for what works for us as a people, that does not mean that we are canceling that. But, if it is not working for us, but we may temporarily look for what works for us. In those European countries I am aware that the Post Office is still the retail end. You want to collect your passport you go to the post; pension, to post office. Why are we not doing it here? So, we in the Post Office are mindful of that and we will continue to market the post across those ministries and parastatals. Why they should patronize us, why they should prefer
us, why they should see us as having an edge. NIPOST is in every local government in Nigeria, you can’t find other courier companies there. We have to wake up as people to take advantage of the benefit that we have as a nation. We have all it takes to succeed. But we must wake up. It’s a recurring issue like I said there will always be a vacuum and someone will always try to fill it and we have to be on top of our games. We need this feedback and we need to engage the media professionals to also help our visibility. “We are aware of all these things, don’t forget that each state is trying to generate revenue. They call it IGR, they are trying to beef it up they are trying to mop up from whatever it is they think they can. It is still a systemic problem. For instance, the Road Safety for the Traffic law of Ogun State, there is a limit and there is where the State Ministry of transport takes it up. We can engage both with a view to reducing this hardship. Ogun state is not Lagos state they also have their VIO for instance, they also have their own TRACE to enforce their traffic Laws and to prosecute the offenders. So, when you are operating in let’s say Ogun State you are bound by that law and if your license is across states like we give you regional license you want to be operating within the southwest or better still you have a national license you are likely to encounter that. It has been there from one local government to another. They will ask you for one thing or the other. We have also engaged the Association of Local Government of Nigeria with the view to
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‘Already Embracing Digital Platforms’
having a one stop shop rate. In other words whatever any I pay in Lagos or any state under Local Government should cover me as a national carrier anywhere I go. They should not stop me at random and keep asking for this and that. Let’s have a unified approved rate because this people are in business they have to move. You won’t say because I am travelling to Sokoto now after I have paid my travel fares the moment I cross from Lagos to Ibadan I must pay another transport fare because government must collect from it. But you find that people from the Local Governments are on the road asking the transporters all sorts of things, most of which are not statutory. But now you also find other government agencies like the police and customs on the road trying to also do the assessment of vehicle that someone imported 10 years ago because he is travelling to the East now with it. So, this epidemic systemic problem is beyond us; but we will continue to engage the concerned government agencies. Do you see the return of the post office cultures of the past? Well my answer is in the affirmative. I am an optimistic person, I believe in the destiny of Nigeria. May be my faith has an influence on my belief. I believe that we can do all things as long as we believe in ourselves. I believe we can go back to those glorious days. It has to do with leadership, the influence, the opinion, the drive, the
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will and I believe with the current Post Master General of the Federation, Dr. Ismail Adebayo Adenusi, we are on track. This is digital age and we have started embracing this digital technological platform like I just told you we are on social media. This department is an office within the office of the PMG, we are having our platform and the web portal. We have never had that in the last 19 years but when I came on board August last year, the first thing was to get a database to take advantage of the relevant technology. We are exploring that and you know the Post Office can never die. As long as people move and not only that as long as they move things we just need to re-invent; we need to do more of that and we need to innovate. We need to spend more on innovating products and ideas. Once we are able to do all those things I see light at the end of the tunnel. It’s a temporary setback because of taste and people reasoning. I mean I don’t believe the whites are better than the blacks, they just embrace their own things; they also don’t throw away old things because of new things; there is fusion between the two if you go there tomorrow you still see the old people still send the cards and its saving cost. You are spending more when you neglect those things. Tell me about the financial services, NIPOST is there. We are coming up with that in the financial inclusion and more to that is the Post Office structures. Once they are renovated, the spaces the land are properly utilized the revenue will come because we are
sitting on a gold mine. It is just putting all those things to good use. We will continue to do the marketing drive, making people know and employ the publicity aspect of it. Some people don’t even know that at the back yard there is a gold mine! I mean if you are going to send something from here to Sokoto and you are paying N50, you should ask yourself is it realistic? That’s not a leaving tariff but you go to private courier companies and when they are going to charge you for the same thing, they charge you thirty thousand or twenty thousand naira and you are willing to pay because you know he will deliver. So how do you expect the man with 50 naira to deliver? Let’s be frank. If NIPOST like we have done a little bit review of our tariff, the same public who wants quality service shouldn’t complain because if you want quality service you must be willing to pay for it. So, when the giant in us wakes up and we get the right leadership like we have now and we have adequate funding, things will look up again. We believe that we have what it takes to be great. We are on the verge of post-
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‘With NIPOST, Registration For Logistics, Easy, Simple’ ing the post to posterity not into poverty. The post has no business with being poor. Other examples cited are just there, so it’s for us to look inward to have an assessment of what we are not doing right. How would you describe opportunities in the courier and logistics industry? It is huge, in the sense that it is both formal and informal sector, in that you have more of illegal operators who are not actually accounted for but from our data base here we were able to get over twenty thousand Nigerians employed formally now. Of course, those who are not captured are in their hundreds, that I can say. The revenue rate is close to about 500 billion dollars with a GDP of about 3.4 when you look at it. It is a big market, it is a huge market because it has to do with other things. It propels other sectors. It is an employment generation sector of the
economy. Hope the process of registration is not cumbersome which may be discouraging the so called quacks from registering? No it is not, all they need to do is visit our website https://www.nipost.gov. ng/. and all they need to do is google it. They will see the terms and conditions there; the procedure and process as well as the requirements are there. You can’t get one bike for less than N300, 000 or more, if they have to go for the 200CC it’s about N900, 000 and more so between 300 and 900 thousand if you get one or two we will give you a license with N250, 000. The cost of investment for facility is more. Of course you need an office, you need to have an insurance cover for the goods in transit, and you need to have a weighing scale. These are basic things you will need. Then an office space with let’s say two million naira you are
good to go. You can start an SME. But it is to be emphasized that all unlicensed operators are criminal offenders. They are committing crimes against the state because they are evading tax and they are not licensed. They are a security threat to the nation and they are faceless. So, ideally, we prosecute them and they can pay as much as 50 percent of the licensing fee. That is what is obtainable or an option of jail so it is penny wise pound foolish. We advise and encourage them to do what is needful so as not to fall to the other side of the law. What is Nigeria’s rating in IPU now? Nigeria’s rating in IPU I would say we are average, we are not up there but we are not doing badly. I know we are not at the bottom of the ladder and I know we are not on top of the ladder. BV.
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APCON Inducts 15 OAAN Members, 48 Others As Fellows Saidat Alausa THE Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON), recently inducted 63 individuals across different sectorial groups as Fellows of the Advertising practice at a colourful ceremony in Lagos. Out of these were managing directors of 15 member companies of the Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria, (OAAN), including the president, Chief Emmanuel Ajufo, a member of the OAAN Board of Trustees (BoT), Sir Dozie Mbanefo and 13 others. The list of the new APCON fellows also included Mr. Femi Adelusi, President of the Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria, (MIPAN), as well as Mr. Steve Babaeko, President of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, (AAAN).
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Speaking at the ceremony held in Lagos, APCON Registrar, Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo said those inducted into the fellows cadre of the advertising profession had satisfactorily met the required criteria stipulated by law and had consequently attained the highest and most distinguished class in the profession. “This is a delightful moment for APCON and the advertising industry particularly being that the last fellows’ induction was held over 10 years ago”, Fadolapo said. He assured the elite audience further that, “APCON is committed to providing you and every advertising practitioner with a conducive business and professional ground to make sure that the practice and business of advertising in Nigeria is conducted in an ethical manner without compromis-
ing best practices” adding that Council had introduced some reforms to compliment the prevailing regulations, proclamations and other subsidiary instruments established and adopted as legal frameworks for the industry. Highlighting some of the reforms, Dr. Fadolapo said that recently, the Advertising Industry Standards of Practice (AISOP) was established to provide a minimum standard for business engagements in the industry with the aim of improving mutual respect, eradicate unfair advantage, discourage unethical competition and put an end to inequitable engagement terms between stakeholders in the Advertising and Marketing Communication sector of the economy. He listed the highlights of AISOP to include Media Rates Deregulation; Credit Policy; Agency Engagement
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APCON Inducts 15 OAAN Members, 48 Others As Fellows Process; Contract and Implementation Date. He added that APCON had also revised the Code of Advertising Practice, Sales Promotion and other Rights/Restriction on Practice. “The latest being the 6th edition became effective on 1st December 2021. Obsolete provisions were replaced and new provisions were inserted to address present business and practice procedures. “It is as well my honour to mention here that the Honourable Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed recently inaugurated the Audience Measurement Task Force. “The Task Force has been mandated to establish a comprehensive guideline for audience measurement in Nigeria and APCON and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) have been charged to oversee the implementation of audience measurement in Nigeria.” He added that the Corporate License Regime of APCON has been strengthened to ensure that we reduce the encroachment of non-registered professionals in the business space of advertising and marketing communications in Nigeria. “In the same light, APCON has intensified efforts to monitor and enforce compliance by licensed advertisement organisations. It is expected that the scope of licenses must be adhered to while the conditions upon which a license is issued be strictly adhered to”, he said. The Registrar also disclosed that APCON would be introducing a new vetting regime with effect from 1st April
2022 where only licensed advertising organisations will be permitted to apply to the Advertising Standards Panel (ASP) for vetting. This, he said, would further reduce unlawful and unethical practices and more so to encourage the businesses of APCON-licensed organisations. “As an innovative way of encouraging the fellows of the profession, APCON has conducted a research on the beneficial programmes that can sustainably improve the welfare of her members and has resolved to adopt and draw insurance policy to cover her members in specific areas. “We will begin with the fellowship category and progress to cover other categories of membership. In addition, we will be developing a stronger capacity building programme which will be valuable to fellows and help stimulate interesting feedbacks to build a stronger advertising industry”, he explained. He also stated that most of the challenges confronting the Council as a regulatory agency were due to inadequate legislative backup and this would hopefully abate once the APCON enabling Act amendment, which is at an advanced stage at the National Assembly is passed. The Chairman of the Fellows Selec-
tion Committee, Mr. Bankole Ademulegun in his remarks said the screening exercise was thorough and was guided by the laid down parameters that ensured that only professionals with the right qualification, experience in the industry, service in the relevant sectorial group as well as to the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria were elected and inducted to the coveted and elite class. “It is also important for me to state that our committee was strongly of the view that some carefully selected individuals that have assisted the industry in numerous ways be honoured as honorary fellows of the industry,” he explained. He used the opportunity to draw attention to need for a Council to be constituted and inaugurated for the advertising profession. “It is also important that we come together to continue to press for the reviewed laws to be released without further delay”, Ademulegun said. Present at the landmark event were leaders and long standing fellows of the industry in Nigeria including Dr. Biodun Sobanjo, Mr. Ayo Owoborode; Sir Steve Omojafor; Mr Ade Akinde and a former Registrar of APCON, Alhaji Garba Bello Kankarofi. BV.
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The Advertising Practioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) recently inducted members of different sectorial groups as Fellows of the Council. The event captured here by Brand Visibility.
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Brand Visibility at the induction of new fellows of the industry interacted with some of the leading practitioners in the advertising industry on AISOP. Responses suggest that it is a welcome development, even though efforts should be made to make it work. Excerpts:
AISOP ‘ll Help Financial Stability, Health Of Agencies –Adelusi MANAGING Director, Brand Eye Media and President of the Media Independent Practitioners Association of Nigeria, (MIPAN), Mr. Femi Adelusi who was also recently inducted a fellow of the industry in his response advised other inductees to be prepared to make fresh impact in the industry. According to him: “This is a responsibility and a call to be a source of encouragement and inspiration to each other and also to other categories who also aspire to this level of recognition at some point. He added: “there will be more commitment and collaboration on how to move the advertising industry forward because I can see from all the comments, there has been lot of commendation for APCON and the reforms. “The impact is also a support for the new Advertising Industry Standard of Operation, (AISOP), because as fellows we then need to uphold the profession and the protocols not only for the profession but for the business. I think in any way we look at it, it is progress for the industry. On the impact of AISOP on the industry if fully adopted, the MPAN President said it will help financial stability and wellbeing of agencies. “I must be very upfront about that, agencies will be more professional and more secured because if you look at AISOP, it guides the terms of engagement, it speaks to remuneration in terms of agency, speaks also to the broadcast media in terms of how they can take
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Adelusi
the liberty of fixing their rates and all of that. “There is a lot of commercial benefits but beyond that also there is the professional benefit, because things are done the right way. I think for a long time, there is a lot of abuse in terms of agency/client relationship. “A lot of agencies have suffered, have gone through difficult and challenging season and many times this has also been passed on to the radio stations, the newspaper houses and
other suppliers that are involved in this ecosystem. But with this new development, I think we can look at an ecosystem that is more progressive, that is healthier and there will be more respect in the way we deal with third parties, the way we deal media owners, content producers and also in our relationship with the client that we serve. He however said ultimately, the winners are the brands because if agencies are healthy and progressive, then practitioners can do their jobs better in terms of building brands and helping the clients that will work to grow their businesses. “In the long run, the clients businesses will improve, they will grow in volumes, in value and the economy grows as the sector grows. I think it is progressive on the global basis.” Adelusi congratulated other inductees on the milestone. “It is a career milestone, to be recognised in the industry and I think it is commendable. “I congratulate myself and other fellow inductees on this milestone. My message to us all is to continue to uphold the profession because to be a fellow is a call to upholding ethical values and professional standards in practice. “Also abiding by the rules, the regulations of the practice and inspiring a new generation of who are coming. It’s a call to service and we need to do the right thing and uphold the profession,” he said.
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Inducting New Fellows, Giant Stride Towards Re-Positioning Industry –Ademulegun THE Chairman of the Committee for the selection of the new inductees, Mr. Bankole Ademulegun, in a chat with Brand Visibility at the event described the induction of the new fellows as a giant stride towards re-positioning the industry. Explaining the criteria used to select new inductees, Ademulegun said first is their contribution to the industry, qualification, years of practice and what they have contributed in terms of skills development. “Also, have they done anything that is inimical to the growth of this industry? If yes, it would be one of the things we would take into consideration in the selection. On the impact on the industry, Ademulegun said it would now make people take the industry a lot more serious because before now people thought
Adelusi
APCON was going to sleep, so now that the industry is awake, with this induction it is a step to greater things. “Even our clients appreciate that APCON has not gone to sleep. APCON is up and from here, I am sure we are going to see some giant strides towards re-positioning this industry to where it rightfully belongs.
He advised the new fellows to live by example because they are the people the younger ones will bring issues to for resolution because they have become elders and if they haven’t done well, the younger ones won’t be able to come. “They must now take advertising serious; it’s a profession that needs to be taken very serious. In those days advertising executives anywhere we went, we were given that respect, but all of a sudden, bankers took it from us. We should take it back, it’s ours, because advertising people are impeccable. So, we are going back there and I am sure with this Registrar putting a lot of efforts. I pray God will give him that strength to see some of his reforms come through,” he added.
AISOP Best Thing That ’ll Happen To Our Industry –OAAN President THE President Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria, (OAAN) Chief Emmanuel Ajufo who was also inducted told BV at the ceremony that the induction of new fellows will be a great impact on the industry. He explained that it was because of delay in inducting fellows in the last ten years that made APCON to induct as many as 63 at the event. Ajufo said this has never happened before and hope that we will not delay this long again, so that it will not seem as if fellowship is now an all comers affair. On AISOP, he said before APCON did their own, OAAN had done something
similar talking about OAAN Standard of Practice (SOP), “that is why we believe in it, we believe a labourer deserves his wages, when you work, you should be paid. “But we still have work to do because ADVAN is not happy with the development but if all of us cooperate, ADVAN will not have a choice but to also cooperate. So, we love it, it is one of the best things that will happen to our industry.” To other inductees like him, the OAAN president advised them to uphold the tenets of the profession. “When you are a fellow, you should exhibit the highest level of decorum in the practice. We expect them to do
Ajufo
that and we hope this increase in the number of people that are coming in to contribute their quota will make the industry better.”
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AISOP, Right Step In Right Direction –Former President OAAN THE Immediate Past President, (IPP) of OAAN and one of the new inductees, Mr. Tunde Adedoyin in a chat with BV said the induction though came after a long time, it will definitely add value to the advertising industry. “We all agree that it is rather too late but giving the circumstances and with everything that has been happening in the industry, this is definitely going to add value because these set of people will see that they have something to contribute to the indudtry. “Some of us have been members for a very long time and have been aspiring to be upgraded fellows and now that we have it, we will motivate some group of people behind us, we want to work hard to attain all these courses, and then achieve this fellow. Definitely I want to believe it will add value to the industry at large.” Adedoyin advised that every stakeholder in the industry should all try to follow the procedure and that is to the
rules of the practice because without that nothing can happen. With the introduction of AISOP, Adedoyin said the benefits are enormous because it’s like doing the right thing in the right way. “In a situation where you beg to get the contract, you beg execute the contract and you beg to get your money. if you are enjoying something and you know that even what you are enjoying is not a privilege and people are now saying let’s do it the right way, of course there will be resistance from some quarters but I am sure after a while they will realize that the era of those things has gone. “I am sure, it’s the right thing to do and I will really congratulate the new Registrar for taking the bold step to do all these. Some of the things that AISOP seeks to correct have been going on in a long while. People have been complaining about it. For instance, how can you invite five companies to come and pitch and you don’t want to
Adedoyin
give anything. “A lot of money goes into pitching and this is how those companies runs down. You pitch here and there and there is nothing. At the end of day, you have run out of cash and it will affect the quality of job you are producing. I believe, it is the right step in the right direction,” he reiterated. BV.
AISOP Will Help Industry Grow –Steve Babaeko SPEAKING with Brand Visibility at the ceremony, President of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria, (AAAN).Mr. Steve Babaeko and one of the new fellows commended APCON for inducting the new set of fellows. According to him, the initiative is huge, monumental because the old generations of fellows are like almost in retiring mood. “We needed a new crop of fellows who still have both feet on the ground in the practice and that is what we are witnessing here today. Over 63 new fellows inducted, I think that is phe-
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nomenal. “I say congratulations to the new inductees including myself. The thing is that, this is a huge responsibility that is been tossed upon us, so we are the next line of defense for the industry, we must be able to develop the younger ones coming behind, to show them the ropes and just make sure that when it gets to their turn, they will generate that professionalism within the practice,” he said. On the standard of practice by APContinue on P 42
Babaeko
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Stakeholders Needs To Collaborate, Work Together To Get Desired Result- Iyorha A DIRECTOR with the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) and an inductee, Mrs. Ijedi Iyorha told BV that inducting new fellows after ten years is going to open ways for more opportunities. “You are going to see some vibrant people contributing to the industry because it has been a long time. Those that we had before are a little bit elderly and so bringing in more people, and younger people into this cadre of the profession will go a long way to impact the industry,” she added. She however said the inductees should be ready because they are going to be saddled with more responsi-
bilities, “they should not relent in contributing to the growth of the industry. Whichever way they can make an impact, they should be willing to do that.” To the advertising stakeholders, she said the industry belongs to everyone, so there must be collaboration in making sure the desired result is achieved. Her opinion on AISOP when fully implemented Iyorha said it will help do things right, “the right things will be done in the interest of best practices because before now it is like an all comer affair. Everybody does whatever they wanted to do but now there are rules and regulations that they have to comply with.”
Iyorha
Inducting Fellows by APCON, Booster To Industry –MD Gems Communications MR. ATILOLA Williams Odudare Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Gems Communications and one of the new fellows, believes that the new inductees will help boost the advertising industry. “This will rejig the industry seriously because it is long overdue, the last one was done ten years ago and you can imagine the number of us that were inducted today to the highly esteemed fellow of the advertising profession. “This is going to be a booster for the industry. Already we have been experiencing some landmarks in the industry. Industry Standards Panel that has just been inaugurated to enrich the advertising profession and so, this is like an icing on all of those things. The current Registrar knows his onions, he
knows what to do and he is working seriously towards that,” he stated. Advising the new fellows, Atilola said things like this calls for more action, calls for a renew vigour from everyone. “In fact they say, the reward for hard work is additional work, so as individuals, we must be selfless now. As elders of the profession, we must be more selfless and do things the proper way they should be done. “Additionally, to the entire advertising industry, it is a booster and I welcome this, I thank God for this opportunity, aside this, I have been in the practice since 1993, that is almost three decades and I have not done any other thing. This is an icing on the cake Continue on P 42
Odudare
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Implementing AISOP Will Elevate Advertising AISOP Will Help Industry Grow –Steve Babaeko Practice To International Standard Continue on P40 –MD, MC&D Limited MR. WOLE Odubanjo, the Chief Executive Officer, Monumental Concept and Displays, MC&D Limited and one of the newly installed fellows said the induction will have very positive impact on the advertising industry. According to him, it will encourage the new fellows to continue to give their best as far as the advertising practice or marketing communication practice is concerned. “For general industry, it will encourage or motivate upcoming practitioners in order to continuously put in their best knowing fully well that their contributions will definitely be recognised and rewarded. So, these are among others the impacts this exercise will have on the marketing communications industry.” When AISOP is fully implemented, Odubanjo said it will help the industry and the practice a lot because there will be sanity in business operations within the industry and stakeholders can at least have definite expectations from business relations unlike what currently applies. “It will also elevate the advertising practice to international standard where there are sanctity of contracts and where contracts are respected. So, I think by and large it will have very good effect on the industry.” For the new fellows, he urged them to continue to work hard, redouble their efforts in whatever they are doing for them to have attained this level of recognition. “We should continue
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CON, the AAAN President said there is never any good thing that has been done that comes easy though it is a difficult process but the industry has to go through it. “The industry needs to grow, the only example I can give that illustrates the picture, the Nigeria Economy is way bigger than the Southern African Economy by GDP but the advertising industry in South Africa is six times bigger than that of Nigeria and that is not acceptable. And one of the reasons why it looks like our industry is shrinking, they are all those AISOP related issues of just being able to do things with the best practices that are global in mind and that is what AISOP is here to correct. “There will be resistances but there will be on going conversation as well making sure that AISOP remains here and it does the job that the regulator intends for it to do.”
Inducting Fellows by APCON, Booster To The Industry –MD Gems Communications
Odubanjo
to step it up and show more dedication to the industry and to continue to say that all stakeholders should continue to commit themselves to global best practices. “To the younger generation, they should continue to work hard and be more focus and look at the practice more than the financial reward. Once we dedicate ourselves, financial rewards will be the corollary of efforts or selfless efforts.”
Continue on P41 for me, it says to me that my work is recognised and found good enough to be a fellow. On AISOP, he was optimistic it will reduce debts in the industry. “We will have fewer debts in the industry, everybody will be remunerated as professionals, and it’s going to curb all these other guys that are quacks that are not register with APCON because we all know ourselves and we know who to deal with. It is going to cut off a lot of excesses from the other side.”
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OAAN Resists Planned Road Concession By LASAA …….It Will Lead To Monopoly -OAAN IT IS no longer news that the Lagos State Government under its Office of Public Private Partnerships (OPPP) and the Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency, (LASAA) intends to concession the rights to manage and operate the advertising assets and infrastructure along seven roads in Lagos State. The concession rights of the roads which include Ikorodu road; LASU/ Isheri Road; Lagos Badagry Express Way; Funsho Williams Avenue; Apapa-Oshodi Express Way; Ikeja and Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way will be for a period of 10 years. The objective according to the state government is to align the significant capital expenditure with a long term revenue framework that will deliver the maximum benefit to both the state and the selected concessionaire. Despite the claim that intention of the Lagos State Government to use the concession to stimulate the growth of the advertising industry by creating enabling environment to attract significant investment as well as beautifying the state, operators under the Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria is of the strong believe that this will lead to monopoly as well as push the professionals out of business. The Federal Government through its Ministry of Works and Housing also came out to say that five out of the seven roads marked for concession belongs to the Federal Government and warned that Lagos State had no such power to give the roads out with-
out its concurrent approval; which had not been given. The Federal Ministry of Works explained in its advertisement of November 1st 2021 in a national paper signed by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Babangida Hussaini that the ministry had notified the Lagos State Government on the provisions of the Federal Highways Act Cap 135 and the matter is being addressed appropriately. It stated that: Federal Ministry of Works and Housing is drawing the attention of the public to the provision of the Federal Highways ACT CAP 135 that vested the power, control and management of Federal Highways on the Honourable Minister of Works and Housing. “Indeed as part of its management of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing is currently undertaking construction and maintenance projects on sections of the listed roads including Lagos-Badagry Expressway, Ikorodu Road; through Fadeyi to Maryland, Ojuelegba/ Dormalong Bridges among several others. It continued: “In the light of foregoing, the public is invited to note that any decision concerning the use,
control and management of the Federal Highways Right of Way cannot be undertaken by any organisation in general or Lagos State Government in particular without the approval from the Honorable Minister of Works and Housing.” The President of OAAN, Chief Emannuel Ajufo on his part said the planned concession will bring monopoly which in turn will affect practitioners and the industry. “We feel that anytime we talked about concession, they throw away those that are already there and we believe strongly with the provision of jobs by our members the implication is that if our members are out of business, it will also affect those working with them. “The concessioning is wrong and we should not allow it. We feel strongly that the issue should not be allowed to continue. “That is the reason we have written to all concerned, the Governor, Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency as well as the Federal Ministry of Works to reconsider their decision. Speaking further on the implication of the concession, Chief Ajufo said the association’s fear was that if the con-
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OAAN Resists Planned Road Concession By LASAA
cession of roads is allowed in Lagos, “it will be an order of the day across the country and it becomes business for
non-professionals and the professionals will be out of business.” “We are appealing to both parties to
resolve the issue in a way that it will be in our favour because according to the advertisement, it stated that people from within and outside the country could apply meaning therefore that the big players outside the country could come in and take the seven routes, it is also possible that the money bags in Nigeria can just bid for the seven and pick all of them. This will not be healthy for the economy and for the industry,” he said. BV.
BROMIDE: CLAIMS AND COUNTER CLAIMS BETWEEN LAGOS, FG
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ADVERTISING
AB Inbev To Receive 2022 Cannes Lions Creative Marketer Of The Year CANNES Lions has announced that it will honour Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) as this year’s Creative Marketer of the Year. Cannes Lions awards which will take place between 20 - 24 June, will also provide an annual forum for the global industry to address the most pressing issues that they and the world are facing today. AB InBev will be honoured at the final Awards Show of the Festival on Friday 24 June. The honorary accolade is presented
to a marketer that has amassed a body of Lion-winning work over a sustained period of time, and has established a reputation for producing brave creative and innovative marketing solutions. Last year’s Cannes Lions awards, which were given for work from 2020/2021, saw AB InBev amass an outstanding haul of 40 Lions; two Grands Prix, two Titanium, nine Gold, 10 Silver and 17 Bronze Lions in total. Over the past few years, some of the standout work has included Bud-
weiser’s ‘TagWords’ in Brazil, Corona’s ‘The Match of Ages’ in Mexico, Bavaria’s ‘Tienda Cerca’ in Colombia and Michelob Ultra’s ‘Contract for Change’ in the US, which won the PR Grand Prix and a further eight Lions including a Titanium. Speaking at Cannes Lions Live, 2021 Titanium Lions Jury President Susan Credle, cited the strength of the agency client relationship as a big theme across the Titanium Lions winners. Calling out the multiple Lion-winning ‘Contract for Change’, Credle said
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AB Inbev To Receive 2022 Cannes Lions Creative Marketer Of The Year
it “showed a great relationship and trust that you could go for the big idea”. She added that in presenting the piece, the client and creative showed a joy of accomplishment in their big idea that probably most of us would say “it’s crazy we shouldn’t do it”. Simon Cook, CEO, LIONS, said, “What we see time and again at Cannes Lions is that when brands unlock their creative capability and potential they drive real business growth. AB InBev has shown how creativity can be used as a lever to drive incredible success. Its belief in the power of creative culture and capability has re-
sulted in a body of Lion-winning work and it’s a shining example of a brand that is leading the way in creative marketing. We are delighted to be recognising their sustained efforts by honouring them as our Creative Marketer of the Year.” Speaking about receiving the award Michel Doukeris, AB InBev’s CEO, said, “This remarkable recognition reflects our commitment to harnessing the power of our creative teams and partners from around the world. “It has been great to see the creativity of our brands translating into category and business growth. I’m very proud of our colleagues who always
dream big and use creativity to create a future with more cheers.” Pedro Earp, AB InBev’s CMO, said “We’re honored to be named Creative Marketer of the Year. We’ve been on a journey over the last five years to embed creativity into the core of our business, and this award is a humbling recognition of our progress so far, as well as a testament to the people and teams who made it happen. “And we are only getting started. We will continue to focus on our consumers and customers and leverage data and innovation to deliver creative business solutions that answer real needs and drive consumer, community and commercial impact.” The Creative Marketer of the Year award was introduced in 1992, with past recipients including: Apple Inc. (2019), Google (2018), Burger King (2017) and Samsung Electronics (2016). Most recently, in 2021, Microsoft demonstrated that outstanding creativity drives business performance and won multiple Lions at the Festival as a result. Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, commonly known as AB InBev, is a multinational drink and brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium. AB InBev has a global functional management office in New York City, and regional headquarters in São Paulo, London, St. Louis, Mexico City, Bremen, Johannesburg and others. BV with https://www.canneslions.com https://www.campaignasia.com
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MANAGEMENT
What Having A ‘Growth Mindset’ Actually Means
Carol Dweck SCHOLARS are deeply gratified when their ideas catch on. And they are even more gratified when their ideas make a difference — improving motivation, innovation, or productivity, for example. But popularity has a price: people sometimes distort ideas, and therefore fail to reap their benefits. This has started to happen with my research on “growth” versus “fixed” mindsets among individuals and within organizations. To briefly sum up the findings: Individuals who believe their talents can be developed (through hard work, good strategies, and input from others) have a growth mindset. They tend to achieve more than those with a more fixed mindset (those who believe their talents are innate gifts).
This is because they worry less about looking smart and they put more energy into learning. When entire companies embrace a growth mindset, their employees report feeling far more empowered and committed; they also receive far greater organizational support for collaboration and innovation. In contrast, people at primarily fixed-mindset companies report more of only one thing: cheating and deception among employees, presumably to gain an advantage in the talent race. In the wake of these findings, “growth mindset” has become a buzzword in many major companies, even working its way into their mission statements. But when I probe, I often discover that people’s understanding of the idea is limited. Let’s take a look at three common misconceptions. I already have it, and I always have.
People often confuse a growth mindset with being flexible or open-minded or with having a positive outlook — qualities they believe they’ve simply always had. My colleagues and I call this a false growth mindset. Everyone is actually a mixture of fixed and growth mindsets, and that mixture continually evolves with experience. A “pure” growth mindset doesn’t exist, which we have to acknowledge in order to attain the benefits we seek. A growth mindset is just about praising and rewarding effort. This isn’t true for students in schools, and it’s not true for employees in organizations. In both settings, outcomes matter. Unproductive effort is never a good thing. It’s critical to reward not just effort but learning and progress, and to emphasize the processes that yield these things, such as seeking
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What Having A ‘Growth Mindset’ Actually Means help from others, trying new strategies, and capitalizing on setbacks to move forward effectively. In all of our research, the outcome — the bottom line — follows from deeply engaging in these processes. Just espouse a growth mindset, and good things will happen. Mission statements are wonderful things. You can’t argue with lofty values like growth, empowerment, or innovation. But what do they mean to employees if the company doesn’t implement policies that make them real and attainable? They just amount to lip service. Organizations that embody a growth mindset encourage appropriate risk-taking, knowing that some risks won’t work out. They reward employees for important and useful lessons learned, even if a project does not meet its original goals. They support collaboration across organizational boundaries rather than competition among employees or units.
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They are committed to the growth of every member, not just in words but in deeds, such as broadly available development and advancement opportunities. And they continually reinforce growth mindset values with concrete policies. Even if we correct these misconceptions, it’s still not easy to attain a growth mindset. One reason why is we all have our own fixed-mindset triggers. When we face challenges, receive criticism, or fare poorly compared with others, we can easily fall into insecurity or defensiveness, a response that inhibits growth. Our work environments, too, can be full of fixed-mindset triggers. A company that plays the talent game makes it harder for people to practice growth-mindset thinking and behavior, such as sharing information, collaborating, innovating, seeking feedback, or admitting errors. To remain in a growth zone, we must identify and work with these triggers.
Many managers and executives have benefited from learning to recognize when their fixed-mindset “persona” shows up and what it says to make them feel threatened or defensive. Most importantly, over time they have learned to talk back to it, persuading it to collaborate with them as they pursue challenging goals. It’s hard work, but individuals and organizations can gain a lot by deepening their understanding of growth-mindset concepts and the processes for putting them into practice. It gives them a richer sense of who they are, what they stand for, and how they want to move forward. Carol Dweck is the Lewis & Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University and the author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.
(Culled from Harvard Business Review)
FINTECH
Flutterwave 3.0: African Fintech Startup Unveils New Identity, Rebrands … Goes Beyond Payments Saidat Alausa AFRICAN fintech startup Flutterwave has unveiled a significant re-brand and identity. The new brand identity and products were introduced at Flutterwave 3.0 virtual event held in February 2022. Flutterwave was founded in 2016 by three young Nigerians, namely: Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Olugbenga Agboola and Adeleye Adekoya. With headquarters in San Francisco, California, United States and operations across some African countries – Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa and seven other countries on the continent, Flutterwave, according to its Wikipedia page, is a Nigerian fintech company that provides a payment infrastructure for global merchants and payment service providers across the continent. Since inception in 2016, the Flutterwave team has been on a mission to create endless possibilities for customers and businesses in Africa and the emerging markets. Although Flutterwave has its headquarters in the US, it didn’t run any operations there. Most of its US-affiliated
business involved striking partnerships with fintech giants such as PayPal, Visa, Discover and Worldpay FIS to facilitate global payments with Africa. But that changed last August when it hired Jimmy Ku as head of growth to spearhead its expansion into the US. Now, Flutterwave operates an ACH network in the North America with a few customers using the platform to make ACH payments, collections and payouts. In the same vein, Flutterwave launched Grow last September as a product that helps African businesses register and incorporate in the US and the UK. The new capital gives Flutterwave the required ammunition to develop more complementary products. It will also help the company speed up customer acquisition in existing markets and grow through M&As, the company said in a statement. The first public deal Flutterwave made was the acquisition of creator platform Disha for an undisclosed six-figure amount. The rationale behind the purchase was lost on some onlookers because Disha didn’t fit Flutterwave’s core payments business.
Though Flutterwave enveloped Disha’s 20,000 creators or businesses (not all were active at the time of acquisition) and intends to play the long game of participating in the global creator economy, the immediate objective of the deal, it seemed, was to salvage a failing startup and back it with a robust payments checkout system. Brand Visibility found out that in the future, Flutterwave will look at acquisitions that will further consolidate its authority in the fintech space. And as the payments company continues to deepen its influence in the SMB and consumer fintech space, we can speculate that smaller startups — including those it has backed, like CinetPay — may become acquisition targets. “We plan to grow inorganically through acquisitions, and it will happen when we find a fit and see a company with the same core values or culture and goal of making payments simpler across emerging markets. So we still have plans for that,” said the chief executive, who has also backed several startups personally and more recently through the newly launched $200 million pan-African fund Norrsken22.
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Flutterwave 3.0: African Fintech Startup Unveils New Identity, Rebrands While some global investors have recently expressed concerns about the valuations of startups in the face of falling public tech stocks, others are increasing their risk appetite and Flutterwave’s deal reflects that reality. Its latest backers in this Series D round include lead investor B Capital Group and participating investors Alta Park Capital, Whale Rock Capital, and Lux Capital. Existing investors such as Avenir Growth, Tiger Global, Glynn Capital, Green Visor and Salesforce Ventures also doubled down. Stating why his firm invested, Matt Levinson, partner at B Capital, in a statement, said, “Flutterwave may ultimately build one of the most consequential fintech businesses in the world, enabling hundreds of thousands of merchants to transact online and connect Africa to the global economy.” But as one of Africa’s tech unicorns (currently the most valued of the lot, which includes OPay, Chipper Cash, Andela, Wave and Interswitch) and the poster child for African fintech (a sector that received between 50-60% of venture capital last year), tech stakeholders are counting down to the days Flutterwave will go public. That’s not in the fintech giant’s immediate plans, though, as it looks to continue blitzscaling, according to its chief executive. “At the moment, no IPO,” Agboola said. “The goal is to continue to grow and scale. But obviously, we plan to be IPO-ready from a maturity perspective, which means continue to build the infrastructure, cross our Ts and dot our Is
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if we choose to go that route.” The Series D fundraise comes on the back of an impressive run of five years in which Flutterwave has processed over 200m transactions worth over $16 billion to date across 34 countries in Africa. “It also follows a year of rapid growth for the brand which now serves over 900,000 businesses across the globe. In 2021, Flutterwave launched a range of new products, including Flutterwave Market for merchants to sell their goods via an online marketplace and, most recently, Send, a remittance service that empowers customers to seamlessly send money to recipients to and from Africa.” Send, was launched alongside global Afrobeats superstar Wizkid, in December to help anyone in the world send and receive money. Customers use Send — which Agboola called “Flutterwave’s fastest-growing product” — mainly to pay for family support, gifts and tuition. “Send has processed 4,729 transactions, with total payments volume crossing $3.59 million in its first full month of launch. The majority of its customers come from Nigeria, the U.S. and the U.K.” Flutterwave seems to be demonstrating a rare cluster of fintech crea-
tivity and the investing community is acknowledging their efforts by demonstrating that investment is blind to colour and race when the idea is right and the business plan solid. Also, in March 2021, Flutterwave secured an investment of $170m, bringing the fintech company’s valuation to $1bn and achieving the enviable status of a unicorn. Following the announcement of a $250M Series D funding recently, Flutterwave is now rolling out its new and reimagined identity, in what it says it to affirm its commitment to creating endless possibilities for all, through technology. The company is also introducing new products and services that take the technology leader beyond payments. It should be recalled that recently, Flutterwave has raised USD $250 million in its Series D funding, multiplying the brand’s value in triple fold to reach $3 billion. With the new milestone the startup is expected to reinforce its drive to transform the way Africans transact on the continent and worldwide whilst also supporting the growth of the business, innovation and technology landscape in Africa. Also, the fund is projected to help Flutterwave to achieve its goal of accel-
FINTECH
Iyinoluwa Aboyeji
Olugbenga Agboola
erating customer acquisition in existing markets and growth through M&A as well as developing complementary products while encouraging new innovations in its products and services development. A statement from the organisation called the feat “a validation of African talent, innovation and its young inspiring people; it is also a huge endorsement in the growth of the business, innovation and technology landscape in Africa.” Flutterwave’s latest backers, it was revealed, include some of the world’s most respected investors led by B Capital Group, and with participation from Alta Park Capital, Whale Rock Capital, Lux Capital, among others. Several existing investors who also participated in previous rounds also followed this round, including, Glynn Capital, Avenir Growth, Tiger Global, Green Visor Capital and Salesforce Ventures. During the Flutterwave 3.0 event, streamed across Youtube, the brand launched a series of products, including a Fintech as a Service (FaaS) solution which helps startups of all sizes quickly become Fintech companies using Flutterwave’s pre-built API and solutions, Capital, a technology platform for businesses and consumers to access Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) and Merchant lending from regulated and certified
credit providers as well as Grow, a B2B product that helps entrepreneurs easily incorporate their businesses globally. Other products introduced include Checkout, a new checkout experience that is 5x faster, reducing drop-off by 60% and Card issuing, a technology platform to enable businesses to issue both Mastercard virtual and physical debit/prepaid cards to their customers in partnership with Mastercard. These solutions remain subject to regulatory approval. Additional improvements to existing products include; a new powerful dashboard, Barter v4, and an AI-powered compliance process. The Flutterwave visual rebrand comes with 6 new primary colours which depict creativity, motivation, passion, ease, robustness and eagerness. Flutterwave launched in 2016, initially building innovative financial infrastructure to enable payments for banks and institutions, before expanding into checkouts and gateways for businesses of all sizes. Having invested in and built out a suite of products and services targeted at both consumers and businesses, Flutterwave has gone on to serve over 900,000 merchants, process over 200M transactions worth over USD $16B to date, across 34 countries in Africa, which has led to the company becoming one of Africa’s earliest unicorns
in March 2021. According to founder and Chief Executive Officer, Olugbenga Agboola, “We’re growing and for us, payments have become a means to an end.” “Every part of our lives includes some form of transaction. Beyond powering those transactions, we want to also create those transactions. We want to help event organizers seamlessly register and sell out their events, we want to help artists receive money for their craft, we want to help entrepreneurs incorporate their businesses, we want to help startups build financial technology products easily and we want to create endless possibilities for all through technology. “Our new identity is a system that recognises how far we’ve come in our mission. It gives us space to include all of our dreams and aspirations for businesses and customers. It gives us the freedom to do and be more. We’re excited for this new chapter in our growth,” he said. The recent event sees Flutterwave affirm its commitment to explore more areas of growth for businesses, startups and individuals. The move comes after a significant diversification of products in 2021, whereby the company announced the acquisition of Disha, a creator platform where creatives can receive money from across the world for their craft. In the same year, Flutterwave went on to introduce Market, an extension of its e-commerce solution, Store to improve visibility and by extension, revenue for small businesses. BV with reports from: https://flutterwave.com/ng/press-kit https://www.benjamindada.com/ what-you-need-to-know-about-flutterwave-3-0/ https://www.benjamindada.com/ flutterwave-series-c-170-million-unicorn/ BRAND VISIBILITY • JUNE, 2022
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AVIATION
United Nigeria Airlines: Bringing Changes To Airspace NIGERIAN air travellers are accustomed to flying in the middle-body jet aircraft, especially the Boeing 737 brands and others in its category. This undying love for middle body aircraft compelled many Nigerian airline operators to deploy right equipment to the wrong routes, thereby burning fuel and making huge losses, especially when the passenger load is less than 70 per cent. But, the emergence of United Nigeria Airlines, a subsidiary of Private Airlines Services Limited to the scheduled flight operations changed the narration and other airline operators are not shy to take a cue from the baby of the industry. First, its emergence into the sector was like a bolt out of the blues. Unlike some of its counterparts that made a huge noise about their intent to commence flight operations, United Nigeria Airlines, obtained the Air Operators’ Certificate (AOC) from the Nigerian
Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), which would enable it to commence operations quietly and began services within 24 hours later. Not only that, the airline with the; Mission Statement: “To build long term relationships with the travelling public and provide exceptional customer services through innovation and advanced technology,’ and the Vision: ‘To be a leader in the aviation sector by providing enhanced services, relationships and profitability through the provision of quality aviation services that exceed the expectations of our esteemed customers,’ birthed in the sector with only Embraer ERJ-145LR aircraft with 50 seat capacity. The use of a small capacity aircraft by the airline and its success also propelled another start-up airline Green Africa Airways to start operations with ATR 72-600 aircraft, while older airline, Overland Airways, recently made orders for six Embraer E175s.
Embraer ERJ-145LR Embraer ERJ-145LR is a regional jet produced by Brazilian aerospace company Embraer. The aircraft was first launched in 1989 as a turbofan-powered stretch of the EMB 120 Brasilia turboprop. It first flew on August 11, 1995 and it received its type certificate on December 10, 1996. The ERJ145 was introduced on April 6, 1997 and the shortened ERJ135 and ERJ140 were introduced in 1999. Keeping the three-abreast seating of the Brasilia, the twinjet has a new swept wing and is powered by two rear-fuselage-mounted AE3007 turbofans for a range up to 2,000 nmi (3,700 km). The series includes the ERJ135 (37 passengers), ERJ140 (44 passengers), and ERJ145 (50 passengers), as well as the Legacy 600 business jet and the R-99 family of military aircraft. Presently, United Nigeria Airlines has four of the ERJ145 aircraft brand
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United Nigeria Airlines: Bringing Changes To Airspace
Dr. Obiora Okonkwo
with a plan to acquire more. Unlike some of the established carriers with poor customer relations, one of United Nigeria Airlines’ values is to treat its customers with utmost respect, a goal on which it has soared highest since it started operations in February, while it also integrated honesty, integrity and safety into all aspects of its services. Routes United Nigeria Airlines at present operate to about six routes in Nigeria with a plane to expand its wings to the West Coast and international routes in the future. Some of the routes include Abuja, Asaba, Enugu, Owerri, Lagos and Port Harcourt. Agreement with Bayelsa State The airline, about six months ago, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Bayelsa State to seal a partnership deal for the commencement of commercial flight operations at the stateowned Bayelsa International Airport. This development signifies the collapse of a previous deal Bayelsa entered into with the Government of Akwa Ibom State in May for the Ibom Air to commence commercial
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flight operations at the airport with a 50-seater aircraft. The Secretary to the Bayelsa State Government, Konbowei Benson, signed the MoU on behalf of the government, while the United Nigeria Airlines’ Executive Director and Chief Operations Officer, Mazi Osita Okonkwo and the Director of Administration/ Special Adviser to the Chairman, Linus Awute, represented the company. Speaking on the significance of the signing ceremony at the Government House, Yenagoa, Governor Douye Diri expressed happiness that the first airport in the heart of the Ijaw nation was a dream come true for founding fathers of the state. Diri noted that the signing of the MoU signalled the commencement of flight operations at the Bayelsa airport in July, and would open the state to the world and a lot of opportunities. Operational challenges The Chairman of United Nigeria Airlines, Dr. Obiora Okonkwo, in a recent interview with aviation journalists, decried the skyrocketed price of Jet fuel, saying the recent rise in the price of the product was negatively affecting operations of the airlines. Okonkwo also said that the airline opted for Embraer brands of aircraft because of its fuel-efficiency and utilisation. According to Okonkwo, when the airline commenced flight operations, it was buying the product at N160 per litre, but decried that it is over N500 at the moment. He explained that the recent hike in the price of aviation fuel was responsi-
ble for rise in air tickets and called on the Federal Government to intervene in the situation in order for the operators to remain in business. He said: “We started operations at N160 per litre barely two months ago and when you move from that price to over N500 within two months; you should expect whatever we are experiencing now. “As you all know, aviation fuel alone takes between 30 to 40 per cent of airlines’ costs. This is a grave concern to everyone and I don’t know why it is so high.” Besides, he also disclosed that the airline was negotiating an additional two Embraer ERJ145 aircraft to increase its fleet size, stressing that the airline hoped to consolidate on its domestic routes before expanding to regional and international routes. Oknokwo pointed out that as part of the long term plans of the airline, it hoped to acquire bigger aircraft for its international operations, stressing that NCAA had been happy so far with its performance and level of professionalism. “We hope to increase our fleet of aircraft from the current four soon. We hope to consolidate on some routes and passenger load factor. NCAA so far has been happy with what we are doing. We have been very thorough with our maintenance. “The ERJ 145 is a good fuel-efficient aircraft and we are negotiating an additional two Embraer aircraft, which we intend to use consolidate on our entire routes. As you know after we do that, we go for a bigger aircraft.” BV.
AVIATION
New Handling Rates: NCAA Averts National Assembly’s Embarrassment The Nigerian aviation industry was saved from temporal collapse, recently by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) when it quickly intervened in the planned indefinite strike by the ground handling companies over delayed implementation of the new safety threshold handling rates, occasioned by House Committee on Aviation led by Hon. Nnolim Nnaji, its Chairman. Stakeholders said this intervention saved the country a global embarrassment. EMMANUEL OLISEMEKE writes.
AVIATION industry growth requires that the supply chain also prepares for challenges by investing in specialised equipment and manpower to meet growing demands, with emphasis on quality and competitive pricing. In this regard, ground handling companies play a fundamental role in the sustainable development of the sector. The ground handling of aircraft is
an essential part of the aviation industry chain and contributes significantly to the safety, security and economic growth of the industry. Ground handling business in Nigeria has been done haphazardly in almost 40 years. The sector remained improperly regulated for decades until the birth of the Association of Ground Handling of Nigeria (AGHAN) in 2020,
which took it upon itself to ensure its proper regulation through engagements and robust discussions with all the stakeholders. Until its birth, narrow body aircraft were being handled for between $300 to $1000 in Nigeria, rather than $1,400 to $1600 charged in other African countries, while for the wide body aircraft, it went as low as $,3,000 instead of $5,000 in sub-Saharan African countries. In all, the ground handling companies were suffocating under poor handling rates, inefficient Ground Support Equipment (GSE), while the Federal Government was massively losing several millions of naira annually from the sub-sector alone as its contributions to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was insignificant. However, in order to change the narration; boost safety, security and create more revenue generations for the Federal Government, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), under the economic regulation of the airlines, approved a new safety threshold handling rates to the ground handling companies after the complaints by the handlers though its association. The new rates were expected to commence on October 1, 2021 and January 1, 2022 for international and domestic operations, respectively. The House Committee on Aviation led by Hon. Nnolim Nnaji, its Chairman, nullified the approval pending when “the committee will meet with all stakeholders involved.” This development did not go down well with stakeholders and profes-
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New Handling Rates: NCAA Averts National Assembly’s Embarrassment sionals in the sector who felt the order was tantamount to interference of the NCAA duties. Interference In the first week of October, the House of Representatives Committee on Aviation had directed the NCAA to halt the issuing of Air Operators’ Certificate (AOC) to NG Eagle being midwifed by the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON). The committee said it gave the directive following a petition jointly addressed to its Chairman, Hon. Nnaji by the Association of Nigerian Aviation Professionals (ANAP) and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) branch of the National Union of Pensioners, (NUP). AMCON, according to the petitioners, had acquired Arik Air properties and decided to change name to NG Eagle Airline to evade payment of the monumental debts owed to all the aviation agencies by Arik Air. Barely two weeks later, the Senate Committee on Aviation in a letter signed by its Chairman, Sen. Smart Adeyemi, also directed the NCAA to suspend the ongoing issuance of AOC to the airline. The letter dated October 11, 2021 and addressed to the Director-General, NCAA, said that the directive was necessary following the huge debts of Arik Air to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and other government agencies in the sector. The directive drew the ire of various aviation professionals who castigated the National Assembly and accused it “interloping” in the activities of the NCAA.
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Top analysts in the industry also warned that consistent political interference in the activities of NCAA, may lead to the loss of the United States Federal Aviation Administration (USFAA) Category One Status the country attained in 2006, declaring that several countries had been downgraded in the past due to unnecessary interference by the political class. However, a few days later, Sen. Ibn Na’Allah, the Deputy Chairman, Senate Committee on Aviation regretted the action of the committee. Na’Allah, an aircraft captain, in Abuja during the 50th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Nigerian Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), specifically said the committee was misinformed and tendered unreserved apologies to professionals in the sector. He said: “The Senate does not wish to interfere in the statutory functions of the NCAA.” Halting of New Handling Rates In August 2021, NCAA had approved the new safety threshold handling rates for the ground handling companies in Nigeria, after 36 years of stagnancy and the handling of a Boeing 747 or its equivalent at merely $1,500 by the
country’s handlers when their counterparts in West Africa were delivering same service at $5,250. The regulatory body also gave approval to the handling companies to up its handling rates in the domestic scene to N20,000 and N70,000, depending on the aircraft type after some meetings with airline operators, representatives of foreign carriers in the country and the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The agency also set October 1, 2021 and January 1, 2022 for the commencement of the new rates for domestic and international carriers, respectively, but just a week to the commencement of the new regime, the House Committee on Aviation once again halted it!. Nnaji had claimed that it gave the directive to suspend the implementation of the new rates in order to have a closed door meeting with Capt. Musa Nuhu, the Director-General, NCAA. This is despite the autonomy of the NCAA. But, over a month after the directive and the series of meetings held with all parties involved, the committee showed the unwillingness to allow the new rates to take effect, yet the Nigerian economy was suffering, safety and security were at jeopardy. Blasé Directive No doubt, the halting of the new safety handling rates by the House Committee implied a dire strait in the annals of the Nigerian aviation industry and players in the sector said this has to be nipped in the bud to avert further unwarranted directives from the two committees. However, the quick intervention of NCAA in the impending crisis led to
AVIATION
New Handling Rates: NCAA Averts National Assembly’s Embarrassment various compromises by AGHAN and eventual shelving of the strike that was meant to cripple the nation’s aviation industry. Capt. Ibrahim Mshelia, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of West Link Airlines said that the committees had been insensitive to good reasoning in recent times, especially on the handling rates for the ground handlers. Mshelia, however, called on the leadership of the National Assembly, especially Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila to call the committee to order in a bid to save the industry from collapse. He said: “We have condemned the action of the National Assembly committee in interfering with the functions of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in this regard. They have turned deaf ears and chose to listen to mediocre petitions, instead of encouraging the petitioners to go to court over this flimsy and nonsensical petition. “For God’s sake, how can even N20,000 be significant in handling an aircraft that could carry 140 - 189 passengers? The layman can even interpolate this and wonder why they are going to be punished for such a negligible amount. Imagine that Boeing 737-500, which carries about 140 people and Boeing 737-800, which carries 189 people, depending on configuration, they can even carry more. These are the dominant fleet or equivalent. “Perhaps, we should redefine the roles of ground handlers for the National Assembly committee and the petitioners who seem to be ignorant of
those roles to petition in the first place. N20, 000 to handle the typical fleet in question above is a drop in the ocean. But, because also the National Assembly has refused to listen to the voice of reason, or have an agenda beyond the ordinary eye, the facts are available and looking at them in the face, but they will not heed.” Dr. Gabriel Olowo, President, Sabre Network, West Africa, condemned the stalling of the process by the House of Representatives. Olowo declared that any political interference that hinges on safety should not be encouraged by anyone in the sector, maintaining that the global aviation industry frowned at such interferences. Olowo who is also the President, Aviation Round Table (ART), insisted that the recent increment was justifiable, given the global economic downturn, occasioned by the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and wondered why the House Committee stalled it. He said: “Absolutely, the increment is justifiable given the global economic indexes on all factors of production that have increased astronomically, including severe currency fluctuations. “Refusal by the government not to allow the prices to be driven by market forces suggests that the operators may be enjoying all sorts of subsidies, waivers and others. This is, however, just a speculation.” House needs more education in aviation: Grp. John Ojikutu (retd), CEO, Cen-
turion Security and Safety Consults, charged the House Committee to seek for more knowledge in aviation matters before making pronouncements. According to him, most of the legislators lacked the knowledge on the workability of laws, insisting that the handling rates approved for the ground handling companies were not different from similar provisions for the airlines fare tariffs. Ojikutu insisted that the approval was in tandem with the oversight functions of NCAA as provided in the Economic Regulations of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CARs) Part 18 on all operators – government, private and allied services. Ojikutu further expressed that the Nig.CARs was a legal authority of the National Assembly to the NCAA to perform the functions of regulating service rates and fare charges, maintaining that none of the National Assembly Chambers could interfere into the law it has already legislated, except the court of law. “I think we need to advise the National Assembly members of the aviation committees to have copies of the CAA and regulations, which they promulgated, read them to know where they have powers in them before they exercise those powers; can they promulgate a judicial law or Act and begin exercising the executive powers in the law? They need to decide on which sides of the divide they want to be and move there; not a bird and rat at the same time,” he added.
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Corporate Governance And Business Continuity In Times Of Economic And Security Challenges By Josef Bel-Molokwu, PhD, frpa
ly accepted by the business world which had tactically resisted them for decades.
sContrary to popular beliefs, the concept Corporate Governance is not really a new approach to business and enterprise. It actually emanated from what was then known as the Dutch Republic (now The Netherlands) as far back as the 17th Century. It ought to be noted here that this reflects how advanced that part of the world has been, albeit unobtrusively. The Scandinavian area calmly remains the leaders of the world in HDI (Human Development Index) issues till date. Corporate Governance has evolved into a set of protocols, rules, practices and processes that are now applied to direct and run business organisations. It provides a viable balance between organisations and their stakeholders. It also embodies every sphere of the organisation’s operations, with the Board of Directors at the apex. The regular stakeholder components can be represented thus: Boards of
Managements
Customers
Governors Suppliers
Financiers
Governments The Community
Friends
The Public
Corporate Governance came into contemporary reckoning as a strong business guidance system during the era of widespread global business reforms when the emphasis of business principles shifted from raw financial profits to more sublime output like giving back to society and the recognition of Goodwill and Integrity as being as important as financial growth. This was the era in which Ethics came to the fore, and took the prime position it occupies today in responsible business operations. The period from the 1980s on to the early 2000s saw a re-conception of business and entrepreneurship into humane approaches, and concepts like Corporate Reputation, Goodwill and Ethics were broad-
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In this era, Goodwill was, in fact, accepted as an amortizable element of the balance sheets, until 2001 when it was dropped, largely at the behest of pressures by brass-tack accounting experts. But this was revised in 2001 and parts of the provisions restored. Thereafter, Goodwill was adopted as a tax-deductible component in business accounting. The key principles of Corporate Governance demonstrate the resilience of CG as a business strategy bourse that is sustainable and likely to last a long time to come. The key principles of Corporate Governance are represented in this diagram:
Integrity is regarded as the buzzword of Corporate Governance. Bad Corporate Governance practices cast doubts on an organisation’s integrity. Integrity is regarded as that ability to operate at pellucid levels, especially when no one is watching. The ability to live lives of integrity distinguishes the companies run on Corporate Governance principles and those that do not. Most organisations that attain bluechip rating are those that have ingrained lofty social – not merely financial – integrity practices as a norm, not as onand-off performance indices. The Four Pillars of Corporate Governance A reputed Corporate Governance expert, Robert (Bob) Ian Tricker, fashioned what he named the Four Pillars of Corporate Governance, espoused in his 1984 book titled Corporate Governance, which is the first book ever written on the theme of Corporate Governance. The Four Pillars, also known as the Tricker Model, are People, Process, Perfor-
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Corporate Governance And Business Continuity In Times Of Economic And Security Challenges mance and Purpose. These “pillars” are self-explanatory, in the sense that they together and in isolation present the wherewithal for successful Corporate Governance operations in an organisation.
ation. The organisation must pass through these five processes:
The People (personnel, stakeholders and the public) are the driving force of corporate performance. Their motivational and input-output levels make the organisation a success or a failure. The Process (work schedules, key performance indices, operational styles and control systems) form the bedrock of corporate Performance, both of which, in turn, are borne out of the Purpose (corporate and unit objectives, mission and vision) of the organisation.
This writer agrees with the essence of Tricker’s Four Pillars, but would take the privilege to add one more element – COMMUNICATION. This is because Communication is the tool that can facilitate the ability of Tricker’s Pillars to interact in a way that would provide a seamless flow system of operation. Business Continuity What is Business Continuity? How widely applied is it as a modern business practice? How much and how well is it practised in the Out-of-Home industry in Nigeria? Are there conditions antecedent to the adoption and integration of Business Continuity in the Nigerian business environment? The above are questions that the industry needs to address. But, it is necessary to note and agree that there are indeed foundations that must be laid by a business organisation before the concept of continuity can come into consider-
The above foundational processes are by no means easy to accept and adopt, let alone retain on a sustainable basis. It is not much of a surprise, therefore, that several businesses sidestep, or completely ignore, the principles of business succession. This unwholesome practice often and generally leads in one direction – business crash, or, at best, business limping. What continues to baffle many an expert has, however, remained why, in spite of this eloquently obvious and predictable outcome, many businesses all over the world remain loathe to adopt and plan succession strategies. Succession strategies and execution surely do not come easy. They entail quite a lot of hard work, planning, sacrifice, sobriety, perseverance, learning, training, and, above all, discipline. Effective succession systems have to be accepted as a principle right from start-up. The absence of an acceptance of the principle of Business Succession leads to the type of situation quite prevalent in the advertising industry in Nigeria: the collapse of otherwise thriving businesses upon the retirement, withdrawal or demise of the founder of the business. This has largely been because of the faulty foundations on which many of the businesses were built. They are usually what are derogatively called “one-man business” in Nigerian parlance. Even where they are duly registered as limited
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Corporate Governance And Business Continuity In Times Of Economic And Security Challenges liability companies (as most are), the shareholding structure is often individual- and family-bound. So, the habit is to shove a sibling or spouse into the line of succession as an executive director or deputy CEO, with an eye on taking over. Justification? However, it must be mentioned that an objective examination of the Nigerian business environment shows that the extant business succession models did not evolve without cause. The urge by many business proprietors in Nigeria to have a firm grip on businesses they start appears to be based on an observable low level of trust among founders, partners, associates and employees. This low level of trust is linked to a high incidence of counter-fiduciary experience, ranging from petty pilfering and fraud to grand larceny, manipulation of holdings and outright usurpation of the entire business by persons granted various levels of operational powers. The advertising industry has itself had numerous cases of this nature. Partner or employee sharp practices are known to have led to the wreck of some booming advertising businesses, as well as, in a few cases, the actual ruining of the lives of the proprietors. Crowning this is a curious cultural habit in many Nigerian societies – the tendency to blame the victim of such crimes for not being “careful enough”, rather than putting the blame on the perpetrators, and supporting effort to bring them to book. Even the police have been known to share in the habit of finding fault with victims of obvious crimes. With a background of this nature, succession is bound to be at low ebb. That is not to say that succession does not exist in the Nigerian advertising industry, including outdoor. A handful of advertising enterprises have made a big success of their business by adopting and abiding strictly by good Corporate Governance practices, in particular, separating the person(s) of the founder(s) or financiers from the structure and operations of the business. The Insight Group founded by Mr. Biodun Shobanjo has stood out in this stead. It has indeed become a conglomerate capable of matching any in the world and in any sphere of enterprise. The outdoor company Afromedia Plc. also made a bold move by becoming the first advertising business to be
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listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. It remains the only listed advertising venture till date. The Ideal Business Environment For any business to thrive, there must also exist – or be cultured and nursed – an operating atmosphere that is favourable to successful investment and operations. To determine the suitability of a business environment, it is imperative to first know, and then test, the business grounds around you. It is important to note that Testing has moved from the popular SWOT, to PEST, to PESTL, on to PESTL+E. We illustrate the development of these Situation Analysis rubrics below:
The flow of Situation Analysis indices from the basic Strengths-Weaknesses-Threats-Opportunity testing indices to today’s more sublime testing parameters of Political-Economic-Sociological-Technological-Legal-Ethical factors has yielded great dividend to organisations which recognized and adopted them in evaluating the environments in which their businesses operate. Of particular significance is the entry of Ethics as a yardstick for interrogating our business environments. Its adoption was a great boost for Corporate Governance advocates, as it meant goodbye to the hitherto prevalent cut-throat and sharp practices of business. It was stoutly supported by the emergent consumer empowerment force, driven by better consumer enlightenment, rights awareness, as well as
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Corporate Governance And Business Continuity In Times Of Economic And Security Challenges enhanced purchasing power and disposable income. The ideal corporate player just had to recognise that Times have changed! Much more was expected of them, especially in terms of service delivery, customer and consumer relations, social responsibility and transparency. Security and Economic Threats Security and economic situations in any environment are paramount among the indices essential for businesses to thrive. Levels of Security can be measured vide the nine indices below:
On the other hand, levels of Economic wellbeing can accurately be measured by the indices below:
The indices are highly self-explanatory – and it is recommended that we examine them one after the other, and match them with what we observe in our own business environment. In particular, we should pay attention to the
factor of Integrity, which is now regarded as the recurring decimal of good business practices. Breeches of one, or more, of the above scientific indices of good security and a healthy economy invariably amount to threats. These threats usually have far-reaching impact on corporate bodies and their ability to thrive. Their levels of impact depend on the area of venture and the Viability Index of each organisation. Viability Index refers to how well a corporate body fares in its ratings in all the indices. Nigeria in Perspective Nigeria and its corporate functionality levels are subjects of sectorial, national and global opinion, as well as of objective assessment, in terms of the output of reputable Rating agencies, against common opinion. The business operators are themselves also potent and credible evaluators of the country’s business environment. Sundry national and international Rating agencies and their Index reports tell their story as well. Could they ALL be wrong? Nigeria’s Governance and Business environments as well as their configuration are bound to be complex, going by the country’s size, demographic dynamics, potentials and drawbacks. At times, one could be tempted to surmise: Is this country one step from system collapse? But, somehow, one can say No, with some level of confidence (many say, with Faith). This is because, no matter how close and how often Nigeria gets to the brink, there is usually some light in the horizon. Quite an enigma, one must say too. Perpetually doing the wrong things in myriads, and yet not collapsing. Key Effects of Security and Economic Challenges The price that any country and citizens have to pay for failure to manage security and the economy efficiently is, of course, divers and intense. Nigeria is not an exception. Ill-management of security and economic threats usually leads to the following challenges, and perhaps more: i. Economic chaos (free-for-all approaches to business); ii. Non-existent or doleful infrastructure (result-
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Corporate Governance And Business Continuity In Times Of Economic And Security Challenges ing from widespread stealing of resources meant for physical services); iii. Extortionist business practices (nonpareil price leaps and jerks, oligarchic monopolies, zilch consumer redress systems); iv. Personal taking-it-out on consumers, customers, business owners and on society itself (evident in poor work ethic, dishonesty, lack of dedication and low productivity); v. Widespread cheating and exploitation (often based on a false sense of entitlement by business owners, who see sharp practices as a right or, at best, a perk); vi. Concealment or sidestepping of the real causes of existing security or economic threats (pretending that all is fine with the security status and the economy); vii. Reluctance to pay for services (not paying good and regular wages, not respecting debt terms, not meeting contract terms and obligations …); viii. Overall citizen discontent, culminating in anomie. Do the above situations seem alien to you, or are they oh, so familiar? The Big Q inevitably arises: Will Nigeria be able to overcome its security and economic challenges, and become a true nation, rating high on most HDI indices? OOH Business under Security and Economic Threat Environment The business of Outdoor/Out-of-Home/Third Space advertising is a major stakeholder and operator in the Nigerian economy. It has also grown to become the second top advertising sub-sector by revenue in Nigeria, second to television. (In the USA, Internet advertising is now the leader). In Africa, Outdoor comes a distant third after South Africa and Morocco, according to 2017 figures presented by Guttman in Statistica (2021). The 2017 advertising revenue top-three figures for Africa
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(Guttman, 2021) are shown below:
Challenges facing Outdoor Advertising All the same, Outdoor has done quite well in Nigeria, not left behind by other sub-sectors of advertising. It has thrived, and continued to grow, despite the many challenges, generic and industry-specific, the prevalent of which are presented below: i. Safety of hoardings and sites (Threats include extortion and actual vandalism by street vagrants, widely known as “area boys” in Nigeria; extortion and arm-twisting by government officials, in particular local government enforcers; high and extraneous cost of providing company security, in the face of low chances of the police providing protection); ii. Ready availability and accuracy of measurement (metrics) systems (due to low cash flow, poor credit facilities and paucity of pertinent service providers); iii. Expansion of business scope (The average OOH business in Nigeria is small, compared with elsewhere, a sizeable number being sole proprietorships); iv. Investment in digital tools (Interest or ability in this area is generally tepid, and there is low investment in operational apps); v. Apathy to R & D (There is generally low attention to research and development. Very few Nigerian businesses invest seriously in R & D,
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Corporate Governance And Business Continuity In Times Of Economic And Security Challenges vi.
vii.
viii.
many often regarding it as unnecessary expenditure, disregarding it long-term value); Exploration and exploitation of new forms and formats (This writer has for decades raised this issue in OOH circles. Nigeria is replete with non-terrestrial space. Aquatic and aerial advertising opportunities are yet to be taken on in Nigeria. Outdoor companies might be restrained by fears of logistics and costs); State of physical infrastructure (This is a humongous challenge in Nigeria. The state of facilities in Nigeria is better seen than imagined); Availability of Financing Opportunities (The Nigerian financial system still largely operates in hostile banking styles which make credit facilities hard to get and, where obtained, near–impossible to service without hitches).
Facing the New Business World and its Challenges and Opportunities New realities have taken the world by storm. There is a sudden realisation that ‘the Impossible’ has come to be. The hitherto-unimaginable change brought upon the world by the Covid-19 pandemic and its disruption of world order has left an indelible mark on the way life is lived and business is done. What came to be known as The New Norm and Uberisation of Business appear to have opened the need for brand new approaches to doing business, and, even if they come to an end, they are sure to leave a cicatrix that will remain. One such indelible mark is based on the realisation by business proprietors that there was indeed an alternative to ‘coming to the office’! The substantial reduction in operational costs derived from the mere fact of personnel ‘working from home’ is driving business owners to adopt systems based on minimalist worker presence. This is leading to reduction in work force, and its attendant reduction in personnel wages, benefits, amenities, perks, travel, pensions and similar responsibilities. It is easy to foresee that there will also be a drastic dive in the need for physical office space, with a collateral downturn in real estate and allied businesses. Businesses that are not able to turn around
their operations styles fast enough are collapsing in large numbers. One big opportunity brought on by the Covid-19 upheaval is the recognition of the inevitability of the ‘Virtual Life’. It affects Outdoor too! Virtual Outdoor, also called Internet Outdoor, is already here. Have we learnt the skills – and become capable of raising the finances - for Virtual Outdoor? It is ready for full deployment in Nigeria. The Concept of ‘Solutioning’ The era of Solutions rather than mere ‘consulting’ is here. Advertising has a big role to play in manufacturing business Solutions, a role which requires swift mindset shifts and flexibility for all business organisations, Outdoor not exempted. This is what Nikhil Desai (2020) sees as the contemporary key to organisation transformation. To him, this transformation of organisations (through transformation of processes and policies) places them in good stead to perform as Solutions providers. This transformation consists of the following:
In line with the above corporate business Transformation model of Desai, prominent new elements of operational strategy are: i. Purpose (rather than the common practice of all eyes on Profit); ii. Networks (rather than building Hierarchies, which are mini power empires); iii. Empowerment (rather than Controlling the work force and operations); iv. Experimentation (rather than Planning – which usually entails the staid method of doing the same things and using the same thinking patterns over and over again), and
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Corporate Governance And Business Continuity In Times Of Economic And Security Challenges v.
Transparency (in place of the regular sense of corporate Privacy, secrecy and exclusion).
Solutioning involves a lot of dynamism and flexibility. This writer describes it as the business model that rolls Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow into one, rather than segregate them. It is also the innovative system which this writer postulates as involving a smart system which one tags L-U-R. That stands for Learning-Unlearning-Re-learning.
We must place our minds in a mode in which we are able to recall what we knew, be able to really discard them, and thus be able to develop and imbibe brand new thought systems to displace them. That means goodbye to Pedantry and Resistance to Change. END
PROFILE JOSEF BEL-MOLOKWU is currently Senior Fellow at the School of Media and Communication, Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, and Chairman/Lead Consultant of SefPatri Services (Inc.) and The Biographic and Reference Book Centre, He is also Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the ESUT Business School Master’s Degree Programmes as well as Master’s Degree Course Developer/Writer/Editor/Project Moderator for the National Open University of Nigeria. He has served as External Examiner for PhD (Advertising) for the University of Ibadan and as leader of Accreditation and project defence teams for the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria, APCON. The author/co-editor/editor of four books on Business Communication and Advertising, and co-author or contributor of five others, he has more than 80 seminar/workshop presentations to his credit. Dr. Bel-Molokwu was Editor/Editor-in-Chief/Editorial Adviser/CEO of the Star Printing and Publishing Co. Ltd. 1974 – 1980 & 1984 - 1986; Managing Editor/ CEO, Ivory Trumpet Publishing Co. Ltd. 1980 - 1983; pioneer Managing Director, Anambra Newspapers and Printing Co. Ltd. 1993 - 1994, and Registrar/Chief Executive (Director General) of the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) form 1994 to 2005.
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He is a Fellow of Intercontinental Communication, Management Consultancy and Advertising; Member of the Nigerian Institute of Management and Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, and member of the Board of Trustees of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism. He was on the Board of Trustees of the Nigeria Media Merit Award for 2004 to 2016.
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Giving AISOP A Chance By Joe-Eugene Onuorah, rpa MANY perceptive minds would agree that the advertising industry in Nigeria is undergoing fundamental transformation capable of repositioning it for better performance. The basic framework for the control and regulation of advertising in Nigeria which is the Advertising Practitioners registration, etc Act 55 of 1988, is undergoing a wholesale amendment by the National Assembly. With the conclusion of that legislative process, a new phase and face of advertising regulation and control will emerge. Ahead of the new phase, a number of regulatory measures have been activated across the various value chain of the practice. One of such measures is the Advertising Industry Standards of Practice (AISOP), a regulatory proclamation by the Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria –APCON which seeks to clearly define and codify the terms and conditions of practice and business relationships among the various sectoral and specialised components of the marketing communications industry. The over-all objective of AISOP which came into effect on October 6, 2021 is to enhance the integrity of and confidence in marketing communications practice in Nigeria in line with global best practice. The second of the new regulatory measures is the revision of the Code of Advertising Practice and Sales Promotions and subsequent proclamation of a new Code (6th edition) which came into effect on December 1, 2021. The Code defines the principles, rules and procedures of wholesome marketing
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communications in Nigeria and provides a guide for the conceptualization, execution and exposure of commercial messages in Nigeria. The new Code, among other things, has broadened the definition of advertising to include the several new and emerging trends and technologies of commercial messaging so as to bring them under regulatory control in the overall public interest. Before now, the Advertising Standards Panel (ASP) which is the statutory body responsible for enforcement of the Code of Advertising Practice and Sales promotion as well as ensuring
wholesome and acceptable standards of commercial communications in Nigeria has been re-constituted and strengthened for effective performance. Through inter-agency engagements and consensus-building measures, the various constituent members of the Panel have come on board and are actively involved in the work of the Panel. The third evolving regulatory scenario is the enforcement of the Advertising professional membership registration and licensing of advertising firms operating in Nigeria. In line with the Advertising practitioners registration, etc, Act and APCON regulatory proclamation on corporate licensing, steps have been taken to review the Register of Advertising Practitioners in Nigeria so as to update the particulars of persons who are qualified to be listed in the Register. To this end, a number of people who perform advertising related functions or hold marketing communications positions in public and private organisations have been persuaded to be registered and inducted as Advertising practitioners in compliance with the law. Eventually, APCON enforcement machinery which has been serviced and oiled by the foregoing regulatory reforms, will
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catch up with those who choose the ignore these obvious signs. Considering the highlights of the AISOP framework and how they impact various sectors and players in the marketing communications industry, one is at a loss why anyone would object to its propositions. AISOP seeks to standardise the duration of credit permissible in the industry from ninety days (or more in some instances) to forty-five days and impose penalties for default. AISOP seeks to standardise and enforce strict protocols for engagement of advertising agencies and consultants via the pitch process as well as their disengagement. Hitherto, the processes have been largely arbitrary, resulting in frictions and bad blood among parties involved. The AISOP framework leaves room for adoption of alternative methods of Agency engagement that does not require competitive pitches and payment of rejection fees. AISOP seeks to liberalise advertisement media pricing and give media owners freedom to price their media according to prevailing market forces. AISOP seeks to reinforce and enforce the pre existing regulation on corporate licensing of advertising organisations and a ceiling on foreign investment (ownership) in the local advertising industry. Accordingly, all organisations providing marketing communications services in the form of creative and strategy, media planning and buying, out-of-home advertising,
experiential marketing and related marketing communication support services are required to be licensed and certified to be properly resourced to deliver on those services. It also provides for enhancement in the local content of advertisements targeted at Nigerian audiences. Notwithstanding the huge applause which the Advertising Industry Standards of Practice (AISOP) has received across the marketing communications industry and beyond, being itself a product of widespread consultations and aggregation of inputs from stakeholders, there has been a few but powerful indications of disagreement with some of the provisions of the AISOP framework. The APCON Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Olalekan Fadolapo has therefore been relentless in marketing the AISOP framework, explaining to and persuading various stakeholders
through direct and public engagements, on the merits and benefits of the standards of practice to the industry and the larger Nigerian economy. He has been appealing to his various audiences not to approach the matter of embracing or rejecting the AISOP proposition from the point of view of power-play or supremacy contest, but rather to look at the larger picture of securing the future of marketing communications industry in Nigeria and in the spirit of brothers’ keepers. One believes and hopes that in the course of faithful implementation of the AISOP framework, effective October 6, 2021, even players who sense or fear some discomfort with some of the propositions of the framework will begin to realise that, after all, it’s all in every one’s interest. It is indeed a reform that is long overdue but somehow the industry had not found the courage and selflessness to enunciate it. The industry will do well to give the AISOP a chance as it promises to reinvigorate the business of marketing communications in Nigeria, position it for global competitiveness and give value to industry players and practitioners at various levels of the value chain.
CHANGE OF NAME
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The ‘Selfie’ Generation By Olakunle Yusuf TECHNOLOGY is not just changing education and Gen Z. Technology has increased connectivity with the outside world but also increased depression and suicide, and changed how Gen Zers perceive themselves. ... But they also allow Gen Zers to shut out the outside world and live within online communities and echo chambers. Like Gen X and others that have come before, the millennial generation is old news. They have moved beyond the college-aged years and into the workforce. In fact, many have their own kids! There is a new youth generation that has been dubbed “iGen,” the “selfie generation,” the “trans generation,” but are most popularly known as Generation Z. Essentially, Gen Z includes elementary to college-aged students. There is a ton of research on Gen Z by leading organizations. First, let’s consider the meaning of Generation Z. They are generation of people born in the late 1990s to early 2010s, following Generation Y. In other words, they are iGen, digital natives, Post – Millenials, Generation K and Zoomers. They’re digital natives: Gen Zers spend nearly every waking hour of the day interacting with some form of digital technology. This shapes their sleeping habits, how they process information, how they build and maintain relationships, and how they spend their spare time. Gen Z is the first generation raised swiping screens on tablets and smartphones before they could even speak. The use of digital technology—and in particular social
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media—is perhaps the defining characteristic of this generation. They’re fluid: Categories that were seemingly fixed and distinct for previous generations are now considered blurry, ambiguous, and fluid for Gen Z. Technology has contributed to a blurring of the lines between work and home, truth and fiction, fact and feeling, and our public and private lives. Perhaps nowhere is there greater fluidity than with issues of sex, gender, and family. Few believe there is such a thing as a “normal” family. Only half of teens today believe gender is defined by one’s sex at birth. They’re post-Christian: More young Nigerians describe themselves as religiously unaffiliated than ever before. The frequency of Bible reading, prayer, and church/mosque attendance now declining. The Bible no longer holds the same authority in the minds of this generation, at least in terms of what previous generations claimed to believe. In her book iGen, Jean Twenge concluded, “The move
away from religion is no longer piecemeal, small, or uncertain; it is large and definitive. More young people are thoroughly secular, disconnecting completely from religion, spirituality, and the larger questions of life” (p. 132). They’re lonely: Based on their online presence, most teens seem eminently happy. But this happiness is often a veneer hiding deep loneliness. Gen Z may be on the verge of the greatest mental health crisis in decades. Depression, anxiety, and loneliness are on the rise. They clutch to their mobile device as a way out of loneliness. Information overload: With smartphones, young people have endless amounts of information at their fingertips. As a result, they can have what they want, how they want it, when, where, and with whomever they want it. The big question is how we reach a digitally-shaped generation that experiences information overload. In light of my research and personal experience as a parent, pastor, and teacher, I believe there are two key components. First, we must build relationships with this generation to develop trust so we can speak into their lives. Young people today have endless voices vying for their allegiance. Why should they listen to you or me? Part of the answer lies in building relational capital with them so we have the right to speak into their lives. This is a distracted generation that deeply needs meaningful relationships with caring adults. Much of the loneliness of this generation stems
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The ‘Selfie’ Generation from their broken relationships. Many young people settle for relational counterfeits¬ such as consumerism, busyness, pornography, fame, and so on which can never truly fill their hearts. What they long for, and need, is adults who will step into their worlds and value them for who they truly are. Think about the caring adults in your life who shaped you. Honestly, would you be where you are today without them? Probably not. Because of social media and smartphones, this generation faces more relational challenges than you and I did growing up. They don’t just need “someone.” They need you and they need me. Will you be that caring adult who makes a difference? Relationships are vital for building the trust to reach this generation. But young people today also need a worldview through which they can make sense of information bombardment. In other words, Gen Zers need a belief system that can act like a funnel to determine which cultural message are good, true, and worth listening to. Here’s the reality: If we do not consciously equip young people with a sound moral worldview, they will unconsciously absorb the ideas of today’s culture. And because of our information-saturated world, Gen Zers are exposed to more competing worldviews—and at earlier ages— than any generation in history. Research has consistently shown that people who see the world as Jesus did are more likely to live as Jesus did. We live based not on what we say we believe or want to believe but based on what we truly believe. If we aim to transform how this generation
lives, we need to help them adopt a sound moral worldview and then apply that worldview to their life and relationships. Consider an example of how I tried to do this recently in my own family. My 14-year-old son wanted to see the movie Bohemian Rhapsody, which tells the story of the rock band Queen. I hesitated because the film is PG-13 and contains a message about sexuality that concerns me. Yet after some thought, and research on the film, I came up with a compromise: I would bring him and a friend if they would talk with me about the movie afterward. He agreed. We did watch the movie and then discussed it at the dining
room table for about 30 minutes. I didn’t lecture them, but simply asked questions about their impressions, insights, and how we can think about the movie Christianly. My goal was to build a relationship with my son and his friend and also to seize the opportunity to have a meaningful discussion with them about faith. There are many other ways to do this, but the principle is simple: Truth is best taught to this generation through relationships. If we care about Gen Z, we must step into their worlds and be willing to sacrifice our priorities to get to know them so they can come to know our Saviour. Pastor Olakunle Yusuf, Lead Consultant, Above Media.
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KENNY JONES DESIGNS AT 30 Our Uniqueness Sells Our Brand – CEO Mr. Kehinde Olayiwola popularly known as Kenny Jones recently in an interactive session with Brand Visibility team to commemorate 30th anniversary of the brand: KENNY JONES. He also spoke extensively on issues affecting the fashion industry; highlighting the challenges and way forward for his 30 -year- old brand, Kenny Jones Designs. Excerpts: THE brand will be 30 years this year, how has it been since you started? We thank God, who has taken us this far. The reason why I am still holding on in the industry is because I have struggled to where I am today because whatever you don’t suffer for, you can’t appreciate it. Some people when they got cars or houses from their father, they may not know how to maintain such gifts. The father that gives those luxury of life, may not even tell the son what it takes to maintain what he gave him.
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So, anyone that wants to stay long in any business or industry, will have to struggle to make it to the top. For the early days of Kenny Jones, the business didn’t have shape and we kept on pressing on till when we were able to stand on our two feet by the special grace of God. It took perseverance and the merciful favour of God, to get us here. Unfortunately the next generation of business owners does not have the ability and patience to persevere. They don’t want to stay on the job till they have breakthrough; they want to
start a business today and have the result the same day. They don’t want to pay the price, they want to eat their cake and still have it. So, 30 years of Kenny Jones started since 1992 and we don’t even feel it that it is already 30 years. It is around the corner! We thank God and we give God all the glory. What would you say Kenny Jones brand has added to the growing industry? The way we learnt at that time is different from how it is done now. Then
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ing about tailoring and fashion making to the glory of God, I know the in and out of the business and I can easily transfer my knowledge to others. Are you looking at expansion? If yes, how soon sir? We are working on it, we want to take our branch to some places but we don’t want to depend on people to do that. We don’t want to be a liability to anyone, we want to do it independently. We don’t want to be indebted to anyone, in as much as we are willing to expand, we will do it at our own pace.
we had the idea of the business but it is not what we learnt 30 years ago that we are still using now. Like people say, when the world evolves, we in it should do the same. So, what we learnt that time, we can’t use it now, so there is the need to upgrade the brand and which we do often. Whatever business you want to sustain, you must know how to connect with the industry and improve on daily basis. It’s the grace of God and divine idea from God all the time. What is the uniqueness of the brand, Kenny Jones? Kenny Jones brand, our slogan is ‘Where Men are Made Kings’, and this is because we make use of quality material in sewing our clothes. We take time to get the best fabric. So, when our clients wear our clothes, people around them affirm that the cloth is fine and it’s unique. It is this uniqueness that sells our brand anywhere we go. It is also what gives our clients the confidence to refer us to new client every day. 30 years after, what should your clients expect from you? Each time I travel abroad and I see the way they produce the materials for clothing, when I see those machines during a tour of their factories, I wish we bring something like that to Nigeria. If we can do same in this country, a lot of people will benefit and there would be more jobs for the people too. But they have 24 hours of power supply over there because the kind of
equipment they use. So, we are planning and begging God to give us grace to be able to achieve that. Then, we are planning to have school for the people to come and learn the art and science pf tailoring. We want people to benefit. They say when you are loaded, you will be needed. Anybody that is not loaded, nobody will need them. Some of the youths that you see these days are not loaded, they are just empty in brain, in talking, in idea because they are not well trained. We that learnt at that time and we are doing well in it with the grace of God, we are thinking on how to help this new generation to make it easier for them to learn more than the way we learnt. To do that, we are looking for some plots of land to build a fashion school and then we will encourage them to come and learn, because whatever you know is easier for you to teach others. What you don’t have you can’t give. When we are talk-
Can you share your challenges in the last 30 years? When I was squatting in Gowon Estate in 1991, we started with suit. When they give us wedding suit to sew for a wedding, though we might have delivered the clothes for the engagement which was always Thursday or Friday then, with the hope of delivering the suit before the end of the engagement ceremony but lo and behold, electricity was always a challenge. It was always a big task especially on the need to deliver to the client. Let me tell you something, this issue of power failure has been a long standing one in the industry and it is still like that. Unfortunately, without electricity, we can’t do anything. Though some trades don’t need electricity to survive but we need it at all times. That is number one big challenge. Let me tell you, all the people that we learnt together at that time, especially those that learnt welding were not able to cope at that time because of electricity. We all know a newly graduated apprentice could not afford a generator that will power the kind of equipment they use and because of this most of the people that also trained as tailors then have
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Kenny Jones Designs At 30: Our Uniqueness Sells Our Brand-CEO had to abandon the business. That was why I told you that the first ten years of Kenny Jones brand had no shape because we were looking for where to get power. So when we had some money we bought a generator that is before we could think of anything, before we could even eat. Before you plan for yourself, the first thing at that time was to buy a generator. So, anybody that does not know how to plan and how to manage, if he or she gets to that junction, that person will collapse. Electricity in Nigeria has been a tough issue in a long time. Because of that a lot of businesses died. It takes the grace of God to survive. So that is the greatest challenge and it has frustrated so many people and has killed many businesses in the country. You just mentioned some of the challenges. In your opinion, what is the way forward? There is a programme we do every year that we tagged “God bless Nigeria, Praise God with the Twins” where twins come together and pray for Nigeria. We prayed for Nigeria based on experience, not something they say we should be doing and we spent so much to organize the programme annually. Everyone knows Nigeria needs prayers because it is when it is well with the country that it will be well with people. Let Nigeria go and resolve the issue with electricity or else businesses will continue to die. Without improvement in this area, Nigeria still needs prayer. What are the lessons those look-
ing up to you should learn to excel? I will advise them to be dedicated and patient and learn to relate with customers because anybody that does not have these two might not be able to go far. Anyone that carry him/herself with pride will not go far in any business or any industry. They should also know that “Customers are always right”, it is you that need to be patient and know how to handle and relate with them. But the truth is that the current generation are not patient enough to deal with the client. Any issue with the customer, they will say they cannot take it. Anyone that want to go far in any business must know how to reason and blend with people. What are the plans to celebrate the 30 years anniversary this year? I just sat down recently and I can see that people being celebrated in Nigeria are not the right people and anyone that is being celebrated, people pay attention to the person. Who is the person? What does he do? We discovered that the people they give award to, are not the right set of people, moreover Nigeria usually take what the person does with all seriousness and follow especially our youth. But to me if we want to make Nigeria better, let’s go back to give professors awards, let’s give those that have been in an industry for a long time and they do not compromise. Don’t just give tout or those that are not worthy of emulation. If you give awards to people that do not merit it, people, especially our youth will want to be like them. So, we have now decid-
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Kenny Jones Designs At 30: Our Uniqueness Sells Our Brand-CEO ed that we want to look for the people that have been in any trade or what they are doing for 30 years. We want to celebrate them for staying that long, people like Mechanics, Tailors, and Welders among others. Also we intend to give some people within our ability scholarships to come and learn. Are there plans to promote the Kenny Jones brand internationally? When we started then, the social media was not there but now if you know how to use social media, you will discover that all these gigantic show rooms in the next five years may not be necessary anymore because on your phone you can get whatever you want to buy or sell. We sell our clothes abroad on daily basis because we were available online. When you look at our Facebook, Instagram, our website, you will see us on all social media handles and through that platform clients get in touch with us. Then, we have our offices in Abuja and Lagos, we are planning another one in Lekki area now. What is the uniqueness in Kenny Jones design? Our brand can be identified with neatness and confidence when you wear our designs. You feel good and you will see yourself as a king. There is no place you see our cloth on any man that you will not know it is Kenny Jones design, even from afar. Even people argue among themselves when they see our design that they are sure what someone was putting on is our cloth. When you wear our cloth, you are 100 percent happy and you feel good within you. Even people around you will see
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the confidence in you.
ing law.
Is any of your children taking after you in this line of business? Yes, I have and he is in Babcock University right now studying law. He is doing it already, even in school he has customers of his own. I am happy that he is interested because he can also have this business apart from practic-
What month exactly is the anniversary? We want to make sure it is done in the month of our birth which is October and this is unique because we are going to be fifty. So, we are combining the celebrations to the glory of God. BV.
TOURISM
Tourism Ignites Historical Sites For Local, Inbound Travellers Nigeria, blessed with diverse culture and tradition has all it takes to bring the world and attract quality patronage of its sites as citizens of other countries tourists develop a curiosity to explore developments in Africa’s most populous country. John Olympio TOURISM has grown at an accelerated pace over the last few decades, with more than a billion tourists now travelling to an international destination each year. One of the main motivations in tourism is mankind’s inherent curiosity and desire to travel around cultural identities across the world. Historical and cultural heritage sites, including scenic landscapes and revitalized historic towns, are prized tourism assets that distinguish one destination from another. Nigeria, an African country on the Gulf of Guinea, has many natural landmarks and wildlife reserves. Protected areas such as Cross River National, Oyo and Yankari National Park have waterfalls, dense rainforests, savanna and rare primate habitats. One of the most recognizable sites is Zuma Rock, a 725m-tall monolith outside the capital of Abuja that’s pictured on the national currency. The United Nations World Travel Organisation (UNWTO) said yet as cultural heritage attractions are unique and fragile by nature, it is fundamental that tourism authorities study how to best develop these cultural heritage sites while protecting and preserving them for the long term. With more than 1,000 natural and cultural sites already inscribed on the World Heritage List, the current challenge for the different international
organizations is to ensure that their values are safeguarded amidst a rapidly changing and globalized world. Nigeria, a nation of over 200 million people estimated by the World Bank is blessed with so many historical places that could make tourists make repeated visits for exploration. These historical sites, landmarks, and monuments in Nigeria serve as evidence to stories passed down from generation to generation. From the six geopolitical zones, each of the zones is a blessed place of historical sites and cultural heritage. Some of the historical sites among others are listed below for the delight
of tourists that planned to visit Nigeria for the yuletide season and beyond. The beauty of the sites is that some are tied to specific celebrations at specific periods of the year while a large number can also be visited any time of the year. ODUDUWA GROVE Oduduwa Grove is also known as Oduduwa World Temple. It is located in Ile-Ife, Osun State. The site is distinguished for being the point where Oduduwa, the legendary progenitor of the Yoruba race landed with a chain. He founded Ile Ife, which became his final resting place. At this location, a
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EMIR OF KANO PALACE (The Gidan Rumfa)
Tourism Ignites Historical Sites For Local, Inbound Travellers statue of Oduduwa with the chain and staff can be found. EMIR OF KANO PALACE (The Gidan Rumfa) It is sometimes called the Gidan Sarki (“Emir’s house”). It is the palace of the Emir of Kano located in the city of Kano, Kano State, Nigeria. It was constructed in the late 15th century. Since the reign of Rumfa, it has continuously been the residence of the traditional authority in Kano and was retained by the Fulani jihadists who took over traditional authority in Kano in the early 19th century. It currently has an area of 33 acres (130,000 m2). Gidan Rumfa was built in the late 15th century on the outskirts of the town of Kano. The new building extended the reach of the town and also led to the establishment of the Kurmi market. The palace covers a space of about 33 acres and its open plan design is
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OGBUNIKE CAVES
surrounded by walls up to 15 feet high. The structure is rectangular in shape and its landscape ecology can be divided into three classifications: open spaces, gardens and living quarters/ built-up areas. Structures within the living quarters and built-up areas include the Kofar Kudu or Southern gate, offices, mosque, Soron ingila (English hall), royal courtrooms, a primary and secondary school and living quarters. [citation needed] Today, Gidan Rumfa houses the Emir and his wives, children and aides. The population resident in the Emir’s private quarters numbers up to 200, while more than a thousand individuals live within the structure. The space surrounding the structure is dominated by gardens. OGBUNIKE CAVES It is located in a valley blanketed by tropical rain forest, the collection of caves has been in use over centuries by local people for whom it has particular spiritual significance. This spiritual significance is still apparent, as the “Ime Ogba” celebration is undertaken every year to commemorate the discovery of the caves. Descending into the valley where
the caves are located is a lengthy walkway made up of about 317 steps said to have been constructed by the Anambra State Government in the mid90s. Visitors must remove their shoes before entering the caves, as per tradition, just as women who are having their monthly cycle cannot go in. The main cave consists of a massive structure with a big open chamber of about 5m high, 10m wide and 30m long at the entrance. There are ten tunnels at the main chamber leading in different directions. Within the tunnels are big chambers and other tunnels of varying lengths, some of which are interconnected. The caves are occupied by a large colony of bats of various sizes. There are streams and bodies of water at various places. A stream flows out from one of the tunnels into a rapid flowing river (River Nkissa). At the meeting point of the river and the stream one can feel the warm water from the caves and the cold river water. Beside this portion of the river is a tableland of about 5 X 5 square meters used as a relaxation spot by visitors to the caves. The immediate environment of the caves up to about 200 meters radius is a thick tropical rainforest type of vege-
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Tourism Ignites Historical Sites For Local, Inbound Travellers tation. The site has sufficient boundaries (20 hectares) to protect its values from the direct effects of human encroachment. In 2007, UNESCO added the caves to their tentative list to be considered as a World Heritage Site, after it was submitted by the Nigerian Commission for Museums and Monuments. Anambra State has also contributed to the preservation of the site, but what has been left undone, leaves much to be desired. The site has been protected from the threat of urbanization to a large degree; there are large boundaries, about 20 hectares on all sides, between the caves and the closest human settlement. In the valley that leads to the mouth of the caves, there is a lengthy walkway of 317 steps constructed by the Anambra State government in the 1990s. OLUMO ROCK, ABEOKUTA Olumo Rock is a mountain in southwestern Nigeria. It is located in the city of Abeokuta, Ogun State, and was normally used as a natural fortress during inter-tribal wars in the 19th century. Its patron spirit is venerated in the Yoruba religion as an Orisa. The name Olumo is the combination of two words- “olu” which means (God) and ‘mo’ which means (moulded) the combination which is translated as God has ended our sufferings and trouble. It protected the Egba people when they needed it, and is now held in high esteem by the members of the clan. The mountain, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Nigeria, sits in the heart of Abeokuta– a name
which means “Under the rock” in the Yoruba language; it has a height of 137 metres above sea level. Abeokuta was originally inhabited by the Egbas, who the rock provided with sanctuary and gave a vantage point to monitor the enemy’s advance, leading to eventual triumph in war. The town of Abeokuta eventually grew as these new settlers spread out from this location. A trip to Olumo rock usually commences with a climb up the man-made stairs carved into the rock. The journey continues with climbs on irregularly sized rocks (or elevators) through a narrow corridor that leads to the top of the rock. All along the way, catch sights of carvings in the rock, cowrie-studded statues and the ancient abode of the priestesses of the mountain deity who live in huts on the rock. Professional guides are available. Abeokuta is just about an hour’s drive from the bustling metropolitan city of Lagos, providing convenient access to an array of hotels, restaurants,
clubs, casinos and various nightlife activities. Lagos is also home to the closest airport to Abeokuta, the Murtala Muhammed International Airport. New renovations completed in early 2006 upgraded the infrastructure of the site to include a new museum, restaurants, water fountain, an elevator and the ancient Itoku market, where local artisans and traders enjoy haggling over prices just as much as the customers like to find a bargain. The market lies just outside the Olumo rock premises. It is the centre of the indigenous Abeokuta industry of tieand-dye, locally known as ‘adire’. Adire crafters, usually women both old and young, show off their designs in sheds alongside the roads. The locals are very friendly and if asked, will often give tourists and visitors informal tours of the dyeing areas. Other popular items to watch out for include local beads, bracelets, sculptures and musical instruments like the ‘sekere’ and talking drum.
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Tourism Ignites Historical Sites For Local, Inbound Travellers Despite being extremely old, the miracle well has never suffered pollution, became dry or dirty unlike other wells in the area that dry up during the dry season. The first well is located in Daora, Katsina State. It was made in 1425.
THE WALLS OF KANO The Ancient Kano City Walls, located in Kano State, were built to defend and protect the inhabitants of the ancient city of Kano. The construction of the wall started in 1095 and was completed in the middle of the 14th century. This 14km radius earth monument has a spiritual, cultural and historical significance. The Ancient Kano City Walls were described as “the most impressive monument in West Africa” The Ancient Kano City Walls were built as a defensive wall with the construction of the foundation laid by Sarki Gijimasu (r. 1095–1134), the third king of the Kingdom of Kano in the Kano Chronicle. In the mid 14th century during the reign of Zamnagawa, the wall was completed before it was further expanded during the 16th century. Historians said the then General-Governor of the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria, Fredrick Lugard, wrote in a 1903 report about the Kano Walls that he had “never seen anything like it in Africa” after capturing the ancient city of Kano along with British forces.
in Nigeria is located in Badagry, Lagos State. It attracts many visitors every year. The one-storey building has its corrugated iron sheet roof overlooking the marina waterfront. It is the most popular mission house in Badagry because the first sets of missionaries in Nigeria settled at the building. The rooms have six big rooms, four stores, two big sitting rooms, and a safe where precious items are kept. History also has it that it was a place where returnee slaves lodged. Samuel Ajayi Crowther, a returnee slave lived in one of the rooms of the building. From the outside, the building looks old and frail but the wooden staircase looks as strong as ever. On the upper floor of the building, there is a glass containing the English and Yoruba versions of the bible that was translated by Bishop Ajayi Crowther.
THE FIRST STOREY BUILDING IN NIGERIA It was said that the ancient structure was erected by Reverend Henry Townsend of the Church Missionary Society (CMS). The foundation of the building was laid in 1842 while the house was completed in 1845. The structure was occupied by Samuel Ajayi Crowther, the first African C.M.S Bishop when he undertook the translation of the Holy Bible from English to Yoruba. The First Storey Building
HISTORICAL MAGICAL WELL The magical well was the first cemented well in Badagry and the entire state, made in 1842 when the foundation of the building was first laid. Otherwise called the Miracle Well, the well is believed to have magical healing and miracles associated with it. History has it that a lady who visited the building drank the water and delivered a baby after 15 years of barrenness.
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ERIN-IJESHA/OLUMIRIN WATERFALL Olumirin means “another deity.” The Olumirin waterfall located in Erin-Ijesha Osun State was discovered in 1140 AD by Akinla, a granddaughter of Oduduwa when the people of Ife were migrating to Erin-Ijesha. Akinla was also known to have founded the Erin-Ijesha town. Olumirin waterfall is one of the most visited tourist sites in Nigeria. It attracted over 50,000 visitors in 2014, making it the most visited tourist attraction that year. The natives regard the waterfall as a sacred site and a means of purifying their souls. THE ANCIENT NOK SETTLEMENT The Nok culture (or Nok civilization) is a population whose material remains is named after the Ham village of Nok in Kaduna State of Nigeria, where their terracotta sculptures were first discovered in 1928. The Nok Culture appeared in Nigeria around 1500 BC[1] and vanished under unknown circumstances around 500 AD, having lasted approximately 2,000 years. Iron use, in smelting and forging tools, appears in Nok culture by at least 550 BC and possibly a few centuries earlier. Data from historical linguistics suggest that iron smelting was independently discovered in the region by 1000 BC. Scientific fieldwork began
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Tourism Ignites Historical Sites For Local, Inbound Travellers in 2005 to systematically investigate Nok archaeological sites and to better understand Nok terracotta sculptures within their Iron Age archaeological context. IDANRE HILL Oke Idanre (Idanre Hills), located in Idanre Ondo State, is the most popular tourist site in Ondo State and one of the most beautiful natural landscapes in Nigeria. It includes such cultural sites as “Owa’s Palace, Shrines, Old Court, Belfry, Agbooogun footprint, thunder water (Omi Apaara) and burial mounds and grounds. It has 680 steps, and it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. On the hill also is a magical footprint that fits any foot put in it. The town of Idanre has other historical sites, including the building of the first primary school built in 1896 which still stands, as well as a law court and adjoining prison built in 1906 by colonialists. There the inner court of the Oba’s palace is also an interesting place for tourists, with its various sculptures, crafted many years ago. ARGUNGU FISHING FESTIVAL Argungu international fishing and cultural festival The Argungu International Fishing and Cultural Festival is one of the most popular festivals in Africa. It takes place annually in Argungu town, Kebbi State of Nigeria. The annual festival started initially as a religious festival before the time of Surame Gungu of Kebbi Kingdom. Presently, it is a four-day event that draws more than 30.000 fishermen and villagers to participate in a fishing competition. The fishing contest takes place in
the waters of the river Mata Fada, using nets and traditional gourds made with calabashes to catch fish. The fisherman who catches the biggest fish usually wins a huge amount of money. The festival also includes other cultural events. The Fishing and Cultural Festival, which dates back to before Nigeria’s independence, is considered a contributor to participant sense of identity and is also used as a means of maintaining peace between the Argungu and neighbouring Sokoto community by enjoying shared cultural practices together. Knowledge passed on within participating chieftaincy-holding families by the Sarkin Ruwa (who manages the river’s sanitation levels) and Homa (chief of the Argungu fishermen) concerning the river’s water quality and fish stocks, has been an important factor in the festival’s continuity. OSUN-OSOGBO SACRED GROVES The sacred groves of Osun, the goddess of fertility and one of the most popular deities in Yorubaland, are located on the outskirts of Osogbo, which is about 230 kilometres from Lagos. The groves, which are dotted by shrines, sculptures, and artworks, represent a time when people dedicated areas outside their settlements to deities, areas which are regarded as sacred. The Osun-Osogbo grove itself is located in a dense forest that is one of the primary high forests in southern Nigeria was founded some 400 years ago in southwest Nigeria, at a distance of 250 km from Lagos is the largest sacred grove to have survived and one that is still revered. The dense forest of the Osun Sacred
Grove is some of the last remnants of primary high forests in southern Nigeria. Through the forest meanders the river Osun, the spiritual abode of the river goddess Osun. Set within the forest sanctuary are forty shrines, sculptures and artworks erected in honour of Osun and other Yoruba deities, many created in the past forty years, two palaces, five sacred places and nine worship points strung along the river banks with designated priests and priestesses. The new art installed in the grove has also differentiated it from other groves: Osogbo is now unique in having a large component of 20th-century sculpture created to reinforce the links between people and the Yoruba pantheon and how Yoruba towns linked their establishment and growth to the spirits of the forest. The restoration of the grove by artists has given the grove new importance: it has become a sacred place for the whole of Yorubaland and a symbol of identity for the wider Yoruba Diaspora. The Grove is an active religious site where daily, weekly and monthly worship takes place. In addition, an annual processional festival to re-establish the mystic bonds between the goddess and the people of the town occurs every year over twelve days in July and August and thus sustains the living cultural traditions of the Yoruba people. The Grove is also a natural herbal pharmacy containing over 400 species of plants, some endemic, of which more than 200 species are known for their medicinal uses. BV.
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Branding Nigeria As A Tourist Destination The very rich cultural heritage of peoples of Plateau State and the opportunities that this opens for tourism is our focus in this edition: Branding Nigeria As Tourist Destination in Africa, as must have become obvious, our intention is to showcase the hidden treasures in the country’s tourism industry; and to encourage tourists to make Nigeria a destination of choice. Welcome to the very rich Plateau tourism potential compiled by Tosin Adebayo. PLATEAU STATE: Up north is made up of unique and beautiful sights, of such places is Plateau State. The state was created in February, 1976 when it was carved out of Benue-Plateau State. The state known as Nigeria’s tourist haven is said to be a miniature Nigeria primarily because nearly all the ethnic groups of the country reside there. There are more than 30 hospitable and accommodating ethnic groups in the state and most of them have similar cultural and traditional ways of life. The population of Plateau State is highly heterogeneous with over forty ethno-linguistic groups. No single group is large enough to claim majority but the following are regarded as the leading groups: Birom, Angas, Mwangahvul, Taroh, Goemai, Tal, Fier, Afizere (Jarawa), Miango, Youm, Bogg-
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hom, Rukuba, Piapung, Kwalla, Montol, Jukun, Challa, Ron, Kulere, Pyem, Miship, Mupun and Buji. Each ethnic group has its own distinct language while Hausa has gained acceptability as the most popular medium of communication. There are myriad of reasons why Plateau State in its entirety is your onestop shop for tourism in Nigeria. Aptly nicknamed “The Home of Peace and Tourism.” The gorgeous
Plateau is home to the most beautiful mountain peaks Nigeria has to offer, including the Kurang Volcanic Mountain, wildlife parks, waterfalls, a resort, golf course, amazing rock formations to camp and picnic on and around, and the Jos National Museum. Despite the current security threats and concerns in the country, Plateau State still charms you off your feet with its abundant tourist attractions. With the temperate weather that graces the state, you would not have to fight with the harsh weather of the northern Nigeria but to savour the calmness of everywhere. When you are around the Plateau Area these are some of the places you may want to visit. THE SHERE HILLS Snugly located in the Plateau is the rugged and rustic Shere hills that has
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Branding Nigeria As A Tourist Destination numerous peaks reaching a height of about 1,829 meters of 6,001 feet above sea level. Shere Hills is a household name in Plateau State and the entire northern part of the country. It is surrounded by numerous hills and rocks scattered amongst the highlands. The scenic spot offers a prime view of the city below and has unrivalled opportunities to mountain climbers, lovers of adventure and Nature. It is also an interesting 50-meter approach from the town to the Hills itself. This nature’s delight is quite unique in that some of its formations are in layers standing balanced on each other while others are made up of small rocks “carrying” massively bigger ones and comfortably sitting on one another. The formations have existed for years and have continued to captivate tourists and nature lovers since its discovery. With the Gog and Magog as its highest point, the Shere Hills is a rounded elevation of limited extent rising above land with local relief of less than 300 meters. The hills make up the highest point of the Jos Plateau and form the third highest point in Nigeria after chappal Waddi on the Mambilla plateau. The hills serve as a camping spot to the Citizenship and Leadership Training Centre located at its foot and other military and para-military organizations in the country that are conversant with the towering hills, use it for regular training. WASE ROCK This rock climber’s heaven is a re-
wase Rock
markable inselberg rising abruptly 250 meters above the plain of Wase town. A notable topographic feature of 800-foot- (250-metre-) high hill, rises sharply above the savanna. This mysterious rock which towers over the plains of Wase is one place you don’t want to go to without your camping gear and climbing boots The magnetic ejection that formed the volcanic dome of Wase rock was very viscous and could not spill far before solidification. This resulted in the dome-shaped formation with very steep sides and the dome-shaped rocky inselberg is one the most beautiful out of only five in the world; gaseous escape from the solidified rock gave rise to the holes on the Wase rock which the Rosy pelican bird migrates from east Africa into it as their main breeding ground, it is one of the five breeding places for the White Pelican bird in Africa. It is also one of the five rocky inselbergs in the world. Initially, the rock was held as a temple (a worshiping site for the Kukun
tribe of Tarok in Wase), until gazette 1972 by the government of Plateau state ordered that the lands surrounding the rock should be left vacant and to be used for tourist attraction and to generate revenue. Many physical and chemical weathering takes place on this rock which has resulted to presence of screens at the base of the rock. The rock stands tall and seems to gaze at the plains of the Southern Zone of Plateau State. The magnificent sight the rock commands can be seen and felt clearly from a distance of three to four kilometers from its actual location. Wase rock which was described by geographers as a volcanic plug is visible for a radius of 40 kilometers (25 mi) due to its height. The government now protects about 321 hectares (790 acres) of land around the rock as a bird sanctuary and for wildlife development. An inselberg, a German word which means ‘Island Mountain’, is defined as an isolated rock-hill that rises abruptly
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KURRA FALLS
JOS MUSEUM
ASSOP-WATERFALL
from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain.
The national museum in Jos has, in over the five decades of its existence, transformed into a fascinating tourist destination for people from all walks of life. Governor Sir John Macpherson formally opened the Jos museum on the 26th of April 1952. Though it is the second oldest, after the rather obscure museum at Essie near Ilorin in Kwara state, the Jos museum stands out as being very unique among the over 30 museums across the country and its Pottery Hall has an exceptional collection of finely crafted pottery from all over Nigeria. It is the only museum in the country, for instance, that has a zoological garden attached to it. The Jos museum bears close links with the mining Industry in the state. The museum boasts of some fine specimens of Nok terracotta heads and artifacts dating from between 500 BC to AD 200. It also incorporates the Museum of Traditional Nigerian Architecture with life-size replicas of a variety of buildings, from the walls of Kano and the Mosque at Zaria to a Tiv village. Articles of interest from colonial times relating to the railway and tin mining can also be found on display. A School for Museum Technicians is attached to the museum, established with the help of UNESCO
KURANG VOLCANIC MOUNTAIN These highlands are washed by fetching springs which supply spring water. It is located about 88 km from Jos Township, the Kurang volcanic mountain is a wonderful place to visit in order to see the natural springs.
KURRA FALLS Kurra Falls is beautiful scenery of slopes and lakes situated in area 77 kilometers southeast of Jos. It houses the State’s first hydroelectric power station. This is a beautiful area of rocks hills, lakes that is ideal for boating, camping, rock climbing, perfect for sculling, outdoors and shake climbing. Kurra Falls is a waterfall in Nigeria and has an elevation of 1,058 meters in Assai, it lies to the east of Barkin-Ladi along the Jos-Pankshin road. This place was birthed due to the activities of tin mining in the area. Since discovery, the Kurra Falls has been notable as one of the top tourist destinations in Plateau state. It is the perfect get away destination for people seeking solace from urbanization or just looking to appreciate the aesthetics of mother nature. JOS MUSEUM Situated at the foot of a tree covered granite mountain named Coronation Hill, the Jos Museum is an accumulation of Terra Cotta Sculptures of Nok Culture as its most distinguished features.
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ASSOP FALLS Assop Waterfall is a natural waterfall occurring at the bottom of the famous Hawan Kibo, a rocky uneven hill stretching a long distance below which members of the immediate community live Assop Falls along Jos-Kagoro road on top of the Jos Plateau supplies water which the rapids and falls use, and it feeds the natural vegetation of grasslands that extend into the gallery forests. It is an area of Guinea Savanna on the slopes and top of a mid-altitude ridge of the Jos Plateau, the vegetation comprises gallery forests surrounded by grasslands. The Assop River, which feeds the picturesque rapids and falls, drains part of the Jos Plateau. Interestingly, the waterfall is a special place and a beauty to behold with huge tourism potential. The waterfalls are surrounded by rocks of different formation and a natural forest gallery that makes its outlook awesome. The water also feeds the natural vegeta-
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Branding Nigeria As A Tourist Destination tion of grasslands which extends into the gallery forests. RIYOM ROCK FORMATION: Located 25 kilometers from Jos along the Jos-Akwanga road is one of nature’s most spectacular rock formations-the Riyom rock. Nature had carved out the geographical boundaries of Plateau State in the rock long before the state was even created . MOTNA Museum of Nigeria Traditional Architecture (MOTNA): This is erected on the same site with the National Museum Complex. Here are found the collection of traditional architecture. SOLOMON LAR AMUSEMENT PARK This recreational Centre is located right in the heart of the capital city of Jos, this park provides a place for many occasions. It has been used by movie makers and newlyweds for receptions and other fun activities. It is a good site for picnics and recreation. Named after one-time governor of the state Chief Solomon Daushep Lar, this amusement park combines the beauty of nature with man-made facilities to offer the very best in outdoor entertainment, it offers swimming pool services, playground for children, artificial lakes, free internet service, and a pleasant environment for events, this is a choice site for picnics, recreational activities and events. PANYAM FISH FARM One of the biggest fish farms in Ni-
geria, Panyam Fish farm is located in Mangu Local Government Area of the state. The farm is ideal for sports fishing, is man-made and its products are sold at subsidized price. Sixty-five -year old Panyam Fish farm is reputed to be Nigeria’s largest covering a land mass of 309 hectares, with the capacity to produce about 4.9 tonnes of fish and over 10 million fingerlings annually. JOS WILDLIFE PARK The Jos Wildlife Park features rare and exotic collection of wild animals, reptiles, and birds; it was established in 1972 and extends into the pine forest and the Vongnifwel Hill. There are picnic centres within the park and a history museum that tells the story of the park and state. Jos Wildlife Park was built to preserve wildlife and is one of the largest man made zoological gardens in the country. It is home to a variety of animals ranging from monkeys, elephants, lions and others. The variety of wildlife and closeness to nature is one of the many reasons why tourist love the park. It is definitely a nature and animal lovers paradise, it’s absolutely a must see. HELENA FARM, JOS Known as the Rose merchant. This is a farm where ornamental vegetables and herbal plants are grown. Here roses, carnation, herbs and vegetables like dill, basil, rosemary asparagus, broccoli, lettuce cucumber, cauliflower, leek and many more are grown. Roses are a sight and fragrance to
JOS WILDLIFE PARK
behold. They are beautiful and will excite you on a guided tour on the farm. Although the roses are grown mainly for export, a few vendors and shops all over the country offer roses and carnation for sale. Ornamental veggies and herbal plants are grown in this farm area. The Rose Merchant is another name for him. Rosemary, Cucumber, Bill, Broccoli, Asparagus, Basil, and Roses are among the many plants planted and cultivated here. At Helena Farm, the scent of roses fills the air, making it a delightful spot to visit with family or friends. RAYFIELD HOLIDAY RESORT JOS The resort is located 4km from Jos city. A fantastic scenic environment that offers tourists endless fun of boating, swimming, sun bathing, horse riding, sport fishing and indoor games. For a day out or a weekend getaway, the resort has what it takes for your leisure and tranquility. Bar and restaurant facilities are available between 10.00am-7.00 pm daily.
BV with inputs from:
Branding nig as a tourist destination: Jos wildlife: sunnewsonline.com Assop Waterfalls: threadeeaderapp.com Kurra falls: semanticscholar.org Riyom rock formations: Portuguese.fansharer. com
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Exporting Cultures Through Advocacy: The Yoruba Exhibition Example John Olympio TOURISM is a social, cultural and economic phenomenon that entails the movement of people to countries and places outside their usual environment for personal, business or professional purposes. These people are called visitors (which may be either tourists or excursionists; residents or non-residents) and tourism has to do with their activities, some of which imply tourism expenditure. The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) described tourism as a trade and export. As a key sector in many developing countries, tourism makes a significant contribu-
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tion in raising socio-economic growth and foreign exchange earnings.
Branding Tourism As Export Tourism is trade. It involves the buying and selling of services and goods, with compensation paid by a buyer (the visitor) to a seller. Tourism is an export sector. It is a source of foreign exchange earnings; it grows a country’s national output; it is subject to the rigours of the international marketplace. Most countries want to increase exports as a means of generating employment, increasing government revenue, and raising standards of living.
Many countries have export strategies, addressing a range of products and services, to boost competitiveness, build value-addition and develop new markets. Most have tourism policy frameworks in place, supported by tourism master plans to strengthen infrastructure, regulation and institutions. Yet, few countries tackle tourism as an export sector; few have tourism export strategies that build on existing master plans aimed at strengthening tourism value chains to acquire, retain, add, create and distribute value to maximize local economic impact and reduce leakages. A National Tourism Export Strategy provides a blueprint for the develop-
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ment and competitiveness of tourism as an export sector. Comprehensive analyses are conducted at the national and institutional levels to identify priorities for improving performance. Anchored in strong public-private dialogue the blueprint strengthens the links between export development and socio-economic growth. Tourism is a social, cultural and economic phenomenon that entails the movement of people to countries and places outside their usual environment for personal or business/professional purposes.
Exporting Cultures Through Advocacy: The Yoruba Exhibition Example
Branding Yoruba Culture, Artefacts For Global Exhibition Around the world, Tourism is vital for the success of many economies. There are several benefits of tourism on host destinations. It boosts internal revenue and the economy, creates thousands of jobs, develops the infrastructures of a country, plants a sense of cultural exchange between foreigners and citizens.
Ooni of Ife, Arole Ooduwa, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Ojaja II,
‘We Will Tell Our Stories Ourselves’ - Ooni Speaking on the export potential of culture, the Ooni of Ife, Arole Ooduwa, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, has described Nigeria’s cultural heritage as a huge export potential capable of igniting economic rejuvenation. Ooni, the cultural leader of the Yoruba race, wondered why festivals and heritage are not getting the necessary attention from citizens of the country, saying this has been affecting the growth of the local festivals and culture in the country. He also expressed displeasure that foreigners were beginning to appreciate the African culture, mysteries and festivals more than Africans themselves. The Oonirisa during the annual Commonwealth Day reflected on what he saw at the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton where he spoke to curators
about various artefacts, including an ancient Yoruba crown donated to the museum with little or no information on it. The Arole Oodua told CNN, “We are here to connect the dots because so many of our artefacts and antiquities that have been taken for many centuries can’t be properly interpreted. “We are the custodians of culture, heritage and tradition, we took the baton from our ancestors, and we know more about those antiquities than anyone else.” The Olofin Adimula said further that many artefacts taken from Nigeria due to sustained colonization and the international slave trade resulted in the artefacts ending up all over the world as priceless items kept in homes and museums, completely out of their original context. His Imperial Majesty offered solution to this problem: “We want to come up with an initiative whereby every museum we’ve gone to in the world will loan our artefacts and antiquities, although they belong to us!” His majesty added that “If they are being kept on our behalf we can loan and put them on display,
Eko Destination Takes Nigerian Tourism Locations To Dubai Expo 2020 As part of the effort to tell our story to the world, representatives of the Eko Destinations Limited and Epe Alaro Tourism, a marketing concern in Epe Local Government, strategically stormed Dubai for the Expo 2020.
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Exporting Cultures Through Advocacy: The Yoruba Exhibition Example
Dubai Expo 2020 allows countries to create a fleeting miniature world, a microcosm of global progress and dialogue. It provided a unique and international stage to engage in cultural diplomacy and interact with the host country, other participants, potential tourists, trade partners and investors. In order not to leave Africa’s most populous nation out of the several benefits of tourism on host destinations, boost the revenue of the economy, but to create thousands of jobs, develop the infrastructures of the country, and plant a sense of cultural exchange between foreigners and citizens, the private organisation stepped up the game. Honourabe Apata Samson Nunayon, the chief promoter of Destination Lagos led a team to project Destination_Lagos and #Epe_Alaro_Tourism to the Dubai Expo 2020. The Dubai Expo 2020, with the theme: “Connecting Minds, Creating the future” was well defined by Eko Destination Ltd and Epe Alaro Tourism during their participations and these got them a plaque each. Apata said, “The fascinating aspect of our trip was the endorsements and interest of some tourists to visit Nigeria for the first time with Lagos as their first choice in 2022 while one of the countries already got back to us to create a sister-city relationship.”
Asa Expo Driving Yoruba Culture For Export Another great export of Yoruba culture is the recent celebration of the
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otunba olusegun runsewe
Asa Day in New Jersey, United States of America as Nigerians celebrated the rich and diverse cultures of Yoruba people. The maiden celebration tagged “Asa’’ (cultures) showcased Yoruba music, masquerades, proverbial sayings and songs. Besides, on parade were fashion, `Ayo’ game, recitation of Yoruba poems, egungun masquerades, and wrestling, among others. The originator of “Asa Expo’’, Alhaja Temitope Adeshina, urged Nigerians to reposition the country’s development and progress through culture and advocated the sustainability of its cultural values by promoting and investing in them. According to her, Asa Expo is a project worth doing by bringing to the fore cultural values as tools for realising our full potential as Africans and
as Nigerians in particular, saying that Asa will be celebrated annually and appealed for support from sister organisations and well-meaning people to promote and sustain Yoruba values. The Asa Expo was witnessed by eminent Yorubas living in the US., including traditional rulers like Oba Adefunmi Adejuyigbe, Oloyo of Oyotunji, a Yoruba community in the United States, regarded as North America’s oldest authentic African village. Others are Oba Mathew Ayinde Ajibulu, the Olu Onigboolu of Ewekoro Local Government in Ogun State and Oba Abimbola Akile Balogun, Oshiloye Joye 1, Akile Yoruba of Okunade of Africa Kingdom, Texas, were also in attendance. However, one icon revered by many in showcasing Nigeria’s cultural value to the world is Otunba Segun Runsewe, a former Director-General of Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation, and currently the DG, National Council of Arts and Culture.
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Exporting Cultures Through Advocacy: The Yoruba Exhibition Example
National Council For Arts And Culture, Runsewe Example To strengthen international partnership and export drive, Otunba Runsewe ensured that the council participated in foreign mission activities such as the first Asian Film Festival in Abuja and the French Institute animated films festival. Runsewe ensured training, workshop and seminar in China, the council also enjoyed the partnership and cultural exchange programmes with notable foreign missions like India, Iran, South Korea, Ghana, Russia etc.
It is based on his inputs and bridge-building approach that he was named China Man of the Year, an award conferred on him at a mid-autumn festival, National Day celebration, Nigeria’s first SGEL Cup Chinese Wushu Championship final performance and award night in Lagos. The event was organised by Hauxing Arts Troupe in Nigeria, the Chinese community, the consulate and the WUSHU Development Association of Nigeria. Runsewe had worked tirelessly to build a strong cultural tourism relationship between Nigeria and China. Runsewe has, in various ways, convinced the world that Nigerian culture in its diversity can foster unity and peace among the people of the country and the world. Ooni Seeks Protection Of Yoruba Culture At Oore Fiŕst Coronation Anniversary As the advocacy and the drive to export the Yoruba culture brand and
others in Nigeria, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi has admonished the descendants of Oduduwa to always respect and protect the Yoruba cultures. Oba Ogunwusi gave the charge recently in Ekiti State during the first coronation of Oore of Moba land, Oba Adekunle Adeagbo and emphasised the need for Yoruba both at home and in the Diaspora. The traditional ruler advised sons and daughters of the kingdom to support and join the monarch in his quest to ensure the educational, economic and social development of Moba land. The Oonirisa said:”There is need for people to promote and accord more respect to our cultures in Yoruba land, we have rich cultural values which must not be eroded on the altar of westernisation or civilization. “No doubt, we must be united as a race, this is very important for our economic development. We need peace in the entire Oodua race because, with peace, we can get our rights and get what is due for us in a very peaceful way. “ The foremost traditional ruler explained that Yoruba is blessed with a diverse cultural endowment that must be protected and promoted by all and sundry to effect the needed social-economic change in the society. He emphasised the need for people to work together in unity, noting that the Yoruba race can achieve more in the country with unity of purpose and in the atmosphere of peace. BV.
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Ekimogun Day Festival: A Brand To Sustain Ondo Kingdom–Stakeholders INDIGENES of Ondo Kingdom in Ondo West and East Local Government Areas of Ondo State normally converge to celebrate Ekimogun Day, a day set aside to remember and celebrate to make merry and to raise funds for development purposes . It is also a day to appreciate sons and daughters of the kingdom who are doing great things all around the world. Indigenes of the town also use it as occasion tom pay homage to the Osemawe and paramount ruler of
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Ondo Kingdom, Oba Victor Kiladejo, the chief host, being the custodian of the culture, values and tradition of the kingdom. The 2021 celebration with the theme: “Activating the Economic Potentials of Ondo Kingdom for the Development of Youth” which was the 33rd edition of the annual festival, had the people rolled out drums to celebrate the day with eminent personalities such as the Wife of Ooni of Ife, Olori Silekunola Naomi; former Governor of the state,
Olusegun Mimiko; sons and daughters of the kingdom which include the Chairman of the day, Prince Adewole Adebayo; Chief launcher, Prof. Fred Bankole Olaleye among others. In the past 33 years of the festival, the funds generated according to the organisers was used for the development of Ondo town under the watch of Ondo Development Committee, (ODC). Indigenes in their traditional attire with local beads danced to reverberating sounds from drums and trumpets
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Ekimogun Day Festival: A Brand To Sustain Ondo Kingdom–Stakeholders
with old friends and families exchanging pleasantries. Different traditional dancers performed at the event followed by the traditional homage to the Osemawe. Groups ranging from traditional chiefs, honorary chiefs, Clubs, Market men and women. Students from different schools in the two Local Government Areas also had a march past to salute the Oba who through his regalia and entrance to the venue showed Ondo has a rich culture. Oba Victor Adesimbo Kiladejo thanked the indigenes of the kingdom for their immense support for the kingdom and the development of Ondo City. “I wish to seize the opportunity of this celebration to thank the High Chiefs and all other Chiefs for their strong support for the Osemawe’s throne and their commitment to all that makes for the progress of Ondo Kingdom. So, also I thank the entire citizenry of Ondo kingdom for their prayers and love for
the kingdom. “This joyous occasion affords me the opportunity to place on record, my sincere appreciation to the members of the Osemawe Palace Forum under the able leadership of Elder Abimbola Oladapo as well as other well-wishers for the ongoing massive reconstruction and renovation of Osemawe palace.” He listed priority development programmes to include Igba Electronic Market where work had progressed significantly; City Vision Estate, a 20 acre piece of land to be developed to a gated estate with all necessary infrastructure; stable power supply; Security. For Eki FM, he said a new board was recently inaugurated for the community radio station. “We will continue to encourage our youths who remain amendable to mentorship and have been functioning positively under the guidance of the Youth Advisory Sub-Committee of the ODC.” The Osemawe commended the
youth for their impressive progress particularly in the areas of self-development, training, sports, cultural activities and entertainment. “Their positive attitude will continue to be encouraged in the New Year as we make them realize that their future lies majorly in their own hands and that the future starts now,” he said. Oba Kiladejo added that the past years had been tough nationwide and even within the kingdom, but that the people must be thankful to God. “For this kingdom, one great source of joy is that, for the first time in its history, Ondo Kingdom has sons and daughters in high places in the judiciary. To God be all the glory, as we warmly congratulate these illustrious sons and daughter on their divinely appointed elevation. “On an equally happy note, we all received with utmost satisfaction and joy the exciting news of the upgrading of Adeyemi College of Education to Adeyemi Federal University of Education, Ondo, by the Senate and the House of Representatives.” He added that as the presidential assent was being awaited, the people will continue to work assiduously to ensure that this long awaited success is attained. The Chairman, National Planning Committee of the 2021 Ekimogun Day, Otunba Felix Oladunjoye said the globalization of Ekimogun Day Festival was on course as the festival had been incorporated into the African Union Cultural Committee, as a cultural brand in African Cultural Tourism map. “However, I must confess that it has
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Ekimogun Day Festival: A Brand To Sustain Ondo Kingdom–Stakeholders
not been easy to be where we are today but for the grace of God, coupled with the collective and concerted efforts of both the National Planning Committee and the Local Organizing Committee which made our gathering here today realisable.” He added that the theme of the 2021 celebration, “Activating the Economic Potentials of Ondo Kingdom for the Development of Youth,” is aimed at empowering and engaging the youth on productive endeavours as well as encouraging them on vocational training and sports. “All these are our cardinal agenda for this year and we will continue to encourage and support them as at when required,” he said. The Chairman of the Ondo Decelopment Committee, ODC, Chief Akinwolemiwa explained that the 2021 Ekimogun Day celebrations had taken on several innovations with the hope that it will improve on past performances without making the Day to become elitist or sideline the home based participants. “Our goal is to move with the world and expand the scope of the celebrations, moving it towards carnival status.” He disclosed that the welfare activities for 2021 would be at Ondo East as well as the medical outreach programmes. “We shall continue to make all our affairs truly kingdom wide hence our giving great importance to the Igba Electronics Market,” he explained. Speaking on the cultural value of the festival, a cross section of people at the event wanted the organizers to
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do more on cultural display during the festival and to make sure the innovation does not look more of an elite programme. Chief Odun Fadoju, The Lijofi of Ondo Kingdom, a leading practitioner in Advertising and head Of Lijofi Community said the 2021 Eklimogun celebrations had a lot of things to make it different from the previous events. “We are bringing in youths more to be engaged and it’s an innovation.” He said the festival as a brand was bringing in visitors to come and invest; “it is also a means of showcasing our cultural value and boost tourism. “You can see that a lot of industries are springing up, tourism centres are also coming up. That will bring in inflow of investments to Ondo Kingdom. “The branding perception is creating a positive impression to the town and this is quite innovative for the organizers.” He however urged that the organizers should introduce more cultural
events. Chief Fadoju also advised the Ondos to always come back home to be part of the development of the town. “Home is your root, if you forget your root, you will die. So, you cannot but maintain your root. “Tree without a root will not survive. So, this is our root and we have to continue to support it, encourage it, invest in it, so that our tomorrow will be better for our children,” he said. The former Executive Secretary of ODC, Reverend Damilola Akinwale said Ekimogun Day had always been the unifying factor for every son and daughter of Ondo Kingdom both at home and in the diaspora. “It’s a gathering whereby friends, relatives who are indigenes of Ondo are opportuned to meet after a very long time. It’s also a kind of celebration by which we generate funds for the development of Ondo kingdom. “I am bold to say that as Former executive secretary of ODC, I am quite
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Ekimogun Day Festival: A Brand To Sustain Ondo Kingdom–Stakeholders
aware that the fund realized from the annual celebration is what we use to finance the budget of ODC every year. That is where the largest chunk of money we use for the finance of the budget comes from. That is, the money realized from this festival will be used to execute projects for the development of Ondo Kingdom. “Besides that, it’s an opportunity for the cultural display as products of Ondo kingdom. Various clubs that are bound in Ondo and some of them in the diaspora come together to get involved in how we can develop Ondo Kingdom.” Reverend Akinwale described the future of the festival as bright. “The future is bright in the sense that every year there is innovation. “Every year we try to go beyond what we had done before and like I have told you, it is through the celebration of Ekimogun Day that we were able to raise fund for the establishment of Eki FM; it is through it that we are able to gather money for the establishment of the Ondo Electrical and Electronic Market,
at Igba, like we have in Alaba, Lagos. “Developments that will be beneficial for the people of Ondo kingdom are generated from this place because there is no project we want to do without money. We make sure that every club, every dignitary that belongs to Ondo donate generously for the development of Ondo during the celebration of Ekimogun day,” Reverend Damilola said. To the Ondo people, “This is our festival, you must always come every year to participate. It is a payback time for what the Almighty God had done for us. Come back and pay back to the community, it’s the only way to show gratitude and to display the fact that you are a patriotic citizen of Ondo kingdom.” Chief Femi Bello, a publisher and an indigene of Ondo Kingdom also said the organisers needed to work on the area of cultural display and to also get more of those residents at home to participate because by the general perception, the celebration seemed to be
elitist. “We have to inculcate some traditional and cultural phases of Ondo. Like having these masquerades, we have several traditional outings that are still not showcased. I think we need to improve on that. That will give us the real picture of what Ekimogun Day should be.” Mr. Bello added that the involvement of the youths is well taken care of, and that had already created a niche for itself. “They are under the Ondo Ekimogun Youth Organisation supervised by the ODC. “Ondo is a place to be, in terms of security we are highly secured. Those abroad should be free to come here and they should have it in mind that Ondo is secured. Our youths have turned a new leaf. Before now some of them were known for negative behaviours but now they are anxious about their tomorrow and they are ready to contribute to their tomorrow. “By so doing, I think they have realized that the future lies in their hands and they are ready to protect it.” The newly elected President, Ondo Ekimogun Dynamic Club, Dr. Kunle Adeyemi said the cultural value of Ekimogun Day would be maximally appreciated when the sons and daughters of the kingdom come home to celebrate. “We don’t want to lose the vibes of the Ondo institution and if this is formed, people will begin to look at what to relate to every year. “It is an annual cultural festival that we need to know is important, though it’s in a new dimension. It used to be Ogun festival but today, Ekimogun Day has come to stay. It is not about fanfare;
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Ekimogun Day Festival: A Brand To Sustain Ondo Kingdom –Stakeholders it is about addressing the Ondo issues. “You can agree with me that there are problems here and there and as Ondos particularly, we want to see how one or two of these problems are solved and when those problems are solved, we can actually give hope to the coming generation. On the new dimensions to the festival, the new President said the additions are many, people connect each other, younger girls and boys connect each other “and we can actually build a life-long relationship.” Not that alone, the real Ondo issue would be addressed. Where are we? Who are we? “We need to send this to our children so that they will know, we need to send it to our coming generation, otherwise, the culture will be watered down and we don’t want this to be.” An indigene from the diaspora, Mr. Robert Ade Owoyele said of the festival “I think the festival is improving every year when compared to previous years. Things are getting closer to where they should be. “The festival itself is okay, it’s an opportunity for all Ondo indigenes in every part of the world to come together and talk about how to bring development to the city.” He said the festival had contributed to Ondo Kingdom, explaining that the present traditional ruler as an educated king and a medical doctor by profession has been reaching out to the youths. “Though we have challenges with our youth but he was able to bring
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them together using his influence to let them make positive contributions to the town. Not only that they are taking steps to make provision for them to be gainfully engaged. They say an idle hand is the devil’s workshop. “He has made a tremendous progress from there. He has a lot of connection with us that are in the diaspora such that sometimes ago, we invited him to Dallas in the state of Texas and we had a very good meeting on ways we could participate and as a result of that we have another body called the Ondo Unity Forum of the America. “It’s an umbrella body that oversees all other Ondo Associations and one of our members recently donated a 21st century standard equipment, to the Medical University. We are making progress, the oba is reaching out and I know we can still do better,” he added. Another Ondo indigene, Mr. Akintomiwa Olorunfunmilayo said with the level the annual Ekimogun Day Festival had gotten to, there is the need to showcase the tourism aspect of it especially the part that relates to the tradition. “It is in two dimensions, we are looking at raising funds for development of
Ondo and we are looking at our culture. If we are looking at tourism, it has to be deeply involved in the tradition of our people and for other people to come into this place there must be that dynamism because tradition and culture are not static. “We ought to do things that will encourage other people to come here. If it is for developmental project, I won’t see it as tourism, the only thing I will see in that aspect is that we need to show our culture. Though there is no much tourist centres in Ondo but we can still develop it. “That of tourism, I expect us to involve, going deeply into our culture and seeing what can attract other people to us,” he said. The 2021 Ekimogun Day was also a platform to honour some of the indigenes with the Achiever’s Awards. Those so honoured include Hon Justice Williams Akinlolu Akintoroye; Chief Oludolapo Ibukun Akinkugbe while the Ondo Enviable Ambassador Award was received by Chief Oluwatoyin Adisa and Chief Muraina Ademola Akinfolarin. BV.
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CULTURE
‘My Songs In Ondo Dialect Well Received In Europe, World Stage’
At the Ondo Ekimogun Celebration, Brand Visibility had a chance meeting with Olamidotun Oluwatimilehin popularly known as Dot T and that Ondo Boy. He is one of the budding artistes, a rising star in the act of blending his native Ondo dialect with English ; and delivering the Hip pop way. So, captivating. In this interview, he spoke on the motivation behind his music and his achievements so far.
Motivation My motivation is very simple. Most of the great footballers, Messi and Ronaldo for instance don’t speak English.
They speak Portuguese and Spanish. I am from Ondo, I cannot speak English than the British nor the Americans but I can speak Ondo dialect better
than anyone. How will people outside Nigeria, outside Africa know the beauty of our language if we do not project it to them? That was the motivation behind my using Ondo dialect to write songs for the world to listen to. So far the response has been very good; a lot of people never believe that Ondo language can bring out such a beautiful melody. The first time I dropped my song, the acceptance was very wide, a lot of people don’t believe that you can use Ondo to write songs. There is beauty in Ondo dialect, when you are singing in the language, most time you either sing in what we call Arabian scale or Formatic scale, that’s is the harmony in Ondo. It’s not about….. local songs, it is about doing it in a way that will make people to love it. Even those that do not understand what I was saying loved it. When I was performing at Europe Stream last year, a lot of the whites, though didn’t understand what I was saying but they loved the sound. So, sometimes music goes beyond the lyrics, the sound. I think the pertinent questions are: is it pleasant to the ear? Is it something that can work on the emotion and people will love? So the acceptance was very wide. Did you study Music? I studied Chemistry. But I grew up in the environment of music; from a family where everybody loves music. My parents, all my siblings. They are great lovers of music. Right from time I have always had a passion for music and arts. I started writing songs in second-
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‘My Songs In Ondo Dialect Well Received In Europe, World Stage’ ary school, in fact in JSS3. I became the Director of the school choir. I started writing songs, acting and now I write songs for movies. I have written songs for movies like Day of Destiny. It’s on Netflix. Prophetess; it’s in the Cinema and some others. How can we use Ekimogun Day as a Brand, to project Ondo Kingdom to the world? Ekimogun Day festival is a cultural event that showcases the culture of Ondo people and that’s an aspect that will promote tourism. It is a festival that allows foreigners to travel out here; to come and learn our culture, learn how we cook our food, the kind of food we eat and all. So, it’s something that can be projected to the world. We have a lot of carnivals going on all over the world, this is one of them. So, if we don’t project it, no one will know. You can see that everyone is having fun right now. I am sure you know that the popular Asun is from Ondo. It’s now popular worldwide. So, all these things need to be projected to the world. If we don’t, they won’t know. That’s what this festival is all about. Celebrate our culture, celebrate our people, and project our culture to the world. We have had many editions of the Annual event and every year we improve on it. You can see how everyone has dressed for the occasion. You see we are wearing our traditional attires. We ate a lot of our local foods, like Gbanunu soup, Okro soup. The beads on our necks are pure traditional, so we are projecting a lot of our culture.
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What we are doing now is exporting it to the world for the world to see Message to Ondo Indigenes? My message to all of us is that no matter how far and wide we travel, it won’t change our origin and we have to protect our origin. We need to love our culture; you can’t give what you don’t have. We have to love our culture. I am That Ondo Boy, you can take me out of Ondo but you can’t take Ondo out of me. To other musicians, as long as you are trying to be international, trying to attract foreign market and all, we need to understand that, the foreign markets also have interest in our culture. It appears that we are the ones that don’t really care about our culture. To them out there they are really interested. We need to value our culture and project it to them in a way that they will appreciate.
As a model to the younger ones? My first message is this, you need to be upright. No matter what you do, be truthful to yourself. Secondly, if you have passion for something and you are sure that this thing is good, go ahead, there might be obstacles, it might not be easy, it will only take time to get there. And also, I will advise the younger ones to respect the elders. That is one thing I do and I don’t joke with it because the prayers of the elders go a long way. Can we meet you? My name is Olamidotun Oluwatimilehin popularly known has Dot T and that Ondo Boy, I am the current Afro music song contest champion in Africa and the first Nigerian and the first West African to win the award. I am from Ondo Town, Ondo West Local Govt. I am a proud son of Ondo town. BV.
OEDC
Ondo Ekimogun Dynamic Club Elects New President
...Members Project For The Future Saidat Alausa THE Ondo Ekimogun Dynamic Club, one of the leading social clubs in Ondo City has elected Dr. Kunle Adeyemi as its new President. The election took place during the December 2021 Annual General Meeting hosted by the outgoing President, Femi Babatunde in Ondo.
The new President in his acceptance speech promised to uphold the culture and the dynamism of the Club. He also promised that his team in the new Executive Council will steer successfully the ship of the Club for the next three years. The Club also featured at the annual Ekimogun Day. Dr. Adeyemi solicited for member’s
support through their commitments, sacrifices, positive and timely responses to the association’s calls. “There is so much to be done to achieve our goals as a social club that primordially and existentially has been built on three pillars of Unity, Progress and Harmony. He however listed the ingredients of these pillars to include Concerted
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Ondo Ekimogun Dynamic Club ...Kunle Adeyemi Promises Greater Heights effort in ensuring members’ personal and all round development spiritually, financially, physically, socially, mentally/health and maritally and improved socialisation through existing, emerging and emergent platforms. Others according to him include, deliberate fundraising aside from the Club’s mandatory subscription; upgrading and upholding the OEDC ‘’Omoluabi’’ virtues and values; upgrading and maintaining the socio-cultural community rankings and members welfare as a priority. “You will agree with me that our club is a proud beneficiary of knowledgeable men from diverse backgrounds, religion, profession, status, social and political belief system. “I, in the last 41years of the existence of this club still consider it the best place that has upheld the principles and values of diversity, equality, unity, comradeship, positive and negative provocations or banters and genre of inclusion, ensuring fairness and opportunities for all irrespective of age, and status. “It is therefore pertinent to inform you “omoluabis” that our desire of this EXCO is to lead from the front whereas the energy and strength to move ahead is drawn from you, the members. “We will by the grace of God follow the governance management; the OEDC long standing values and virtues; embrace equality and diversity; listen and taking constructive criticism; embrace and strengthen communal and personal development through our existing platforms (OEDCLZPF), visit to orphanages or help the
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poor, personal aids, loans and grants among others. “Also to take the club to greater heights and ours will be a formidable administration by the grace of God that will keep faith with our socialization, teaching, mentoring and other instruments of communication to get the best out of ourselves and the system not forgetting our vantage old time lectures, seminars, workshops, discussion session series. He added: “Let me also use this opportunity to inform you that we will stand on the principles of rule of law as enshrined in our constitution. We
will not fail to discipline any erring member no matter how highly placed that fall short of the standards of our collective virtues and values. On behalf of the entire club, he expressed appreciation to members’ wives who have all these long years stood by them in the journey. “We shall continue to recognize your special contributions as you add the salt spice to our continued existence as a club of 41 glorious years. “We salute your deep cooperation as our backbone. We pray that as we labour together in the dynamic vineyard, you all will eat the fruits of your labour. We will not lose anyone of you prematurely in the name of Jesus Christ. We solicit for your continued support and prayers,” he said. He also thanked members of the Club most especially the outgoing President, Chairman of the (Lagos Zone) and all other Exco members whom God used to perform creditably well in their different capacities. “I must also thank the electoral committee members; M.T. Akinola, I.O. Akinsiku and Dr. Akin Babafemi (Lagos Zone) for the special tasks; truthful and beautiful deliveries of the mandate given to them by our collective will (the Constitution). “On this note, we welcome you to a new dispensation in our collective drive to make our dear Dynamic Club great again. May God in his infinite mercy crown our efforts with blessings and may He continue to protect us from untimely death and other health challenges, uphold, and expand our creative and wise inspirations, and experiences,” he added.
We Will Work To Ensure Things Get Better-OEDC President What gives you the motivation to contest for the presidency of the Club? I have been a long standing member of Ondo Ekimogun Dynamic Club, as a matter of fact we started the club almost together. I joined in 1980, December. The club was formed about September of that year. We were part of those who started the club. All this while I have actually served in one position or the other. I was at various times the Publicity Secretary, Social Secretary, Assistant Secretary and Vice President. I have been learning. And now that I know that I have the time by the grace of God, I had to offer myself for service at the highest level. This is the right time for me having completed all these areas. I know, God helping me, I will be able to fit in as the President. What is your plan for the club now that another decade is starting after the Club’s 40th? Yes, 40 is a phase and so whatever comes after 40 is a new beginning. So, that is one of the pillars of this new executives, we are going to have a new beginning, not forgetting the fact that we are getting cruise to the age of 60s. I want to look at it this way, what is it that is good for us now, is it successor plan? Is it on our health? Is it on regular workshop to teach ourselves to the time we get to better time of our lives? We re-cast the foundation now and that foundation is what we are going to lay, a fortified foundation for another forty years. Today we are glad that this transition has come and is with us and we are going to move for
With wife: Mrs Ootoola Adeyemi
it. But basically, we want to move the association forward by starting some new discourse, some new things and at the end of the day I know we will profit by it and the association will be better. We want to put some legacies, that will be great and that we cannot afford to fail. What makes the Club unique from others? The uniqueness is about our comradeship, our relationship, as you can see our wives are knit together. We are old standing friends. So, the uniqueness is that more importantly relation-
ship is everything. You can see younger members bringing themselves together in this form. It is not always about money but when you see people who are close together, that goes beyond money, it goes beyond other areas that people look at. No frivolities. There is something unique about us. That culture, that value, that virtue is actually a must and I think it will take us to the next level. What do you think is the cultural value of Ekimogun Day? The cultural value is that we want to bring our sons and daughters home,
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‘We Will Work To Ensure Things Get Better’ we don’t want to lose the vibes of the Ondo institution and with that people will begin to look at ways to relate every year. So, it’s an annual cultural festival that we need to know its importance. It’s in a new dimension, it used to be Ogun festival but today Ekimogun Day has come to stay. It is not about fanfare, it is about addressing the Ondo issues. You will agree with me that there are problems here and there and as Ondo indigenes particularly we want to see how one or two of these problems are solved and when those problems are solved, we can actually give life to the coming generation. So, Ekimogun day is actually that platform that we have created to help us solve our problems ourselves. Any addition to the kingdom from the festival? The additions are many, people connect each other, younger girls, boys connect each other and this has actually helped to build lifelong relationships. Not that alone, the real Ondo issues, where are we” who are we? They are being addressed on this platform. We need to send this to our children so that they will know. We need to send it to our coming generation too otherwise, the culture will be watered down and we don’t want this to happen to us. What is your message to club members? I want to assure them that we will work assiduously to make sure things go better. As a club, we have achieved some landmarks; but we are now going towards the best and that best is
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actually the one that is good enough for us. In every area, in our marriage, in the lives of our children, in our relationships; in our communal development; in so many other things even in teaching ourselves what to do.
Interviews with some members of the Club on sundry issues. Excerpts:
It Was Nice, Dynamic Experience To Lead – Ex-President The club’s immediate past President, Otunba Olufemi Babatunde, has described his tenure as very nice, dynamic experience so far. What has the experience been in the last three years? In his words; “it has given me an opportunity to really intensify myself by committing myself to the club better than before. “During my tenure I was able to fraternize with old and the new. I was one of the people that joined along the line because I was not part of the founding fathers. When I joined the club I met a lot of people of high pedigree but along the line I settled down as a member. I started serving as the Social Secretary, to Assistant Secretary and later as the General Secretary, then as Vice President and finally I became the President three years ago. “My experience so far has been so widening in the sense that most of our members are brothers, they are older than me apart from the younger ones that are very few, very minute in number among us. Thus to control, to manage a set of people of that nature, you need to ask for God’s wisdom but I want to thank God for my three year tenure. It has been a very wonderful experience for me. What is the uniqueness of the club? It’s the dynamism in it because like I
Otunba Olufemi Babatunde
said in my valedictory speech most of the Clubs nowadays that do not stand the test of time because their spouses are not involved. But in our own case we involve our spouses in a unique way that has helped to stabilize and unite us. So, that has been the secret and strength of the Club. I think it’s something wonderful and there is nothing that can break that kind of relationship. What is your perception of Ekimogun festival? The Annual Ekimogun festival start-
ed in 1988 to be precise. Ondo as a Kingdom started it as a way of contributing funds, indigenes to accelerate the development of the heritage and culture of Ondo as a town. For example three years after we started, the money gathered was used to build the present Civic Centre where we now hold the annual festival. It is not just raising funds alone, it is an opportunity for every Ondo indigene to come home at least once in a year. It has brought positive impact on the kingdom. Most of the infrastructural facilities in the kingdom were not provided by the government but the people of Ondo town. You can see the monumental development in the kingdom, done by Ondo people and the clubs. So, these are part of why we are here and the major aspect of it is bringing all Ondo indigenes together once in a year. For us to pray, for us to thank God and for us to see our family after leaving the town for years. It is an opportunity to come home to connect with our family members and to make merry with our friends. What is your message to the younger generation? Yes, it is just for them to follow the legacy we are laying now. The legacy is already there that is promoting the culture of Ondo. So, let the younger ones that are coming emulate and do better, more than what we are presently doing.
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We Are Very Optimistic Where OEDC Will Be In Another 10 Years –Owoyele Robert Ade Owoyele is one of the members of Ondo Ekimogun Dynamic Club that resides in America. He has lived in America for more than 30 years. But in recent times he comes home regularly to be part of the annual Ekimogun Day celebrations. He fielded questions from the BV Team. Excerpts: What is your perception of the club after 40 years? If you remember when you interviewed me last year, I said then that any club that is in existence that cannot give the baton to the next group of people that are coming may stop existing. If you look at our club now, you see a lot of youths in comparism to those of us that had been there before. Most of the older members of the club are in their sixties but we have a lot of younger members in their forties and they are really moving. Even the last election of the Club was really contested because the youths, as at were wanted to bring in new innovation which we need because as we grow older if we don’t have children to replace us, we haven’t done anything. And this is what the Club is doing in the next phase. We are very optimistic where the Club will be in another five, ten years because we are recruiting young professionals that can do better than we have done. We tag them the digital age group. What is your opinion of the Annual Ekimogun Day festival? It’s very nice, I think the festival is improving by the year and compared to the previous years, things are getting closer to where they should be. So, the festival itself is okay, it’s an opportunity for all Ondo indigenes in every part of the world to come together, to even talk about how to bring development to the city.
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Robert Ade Owoyele
What will it bring to the Ondo Kingdom? The present Osemawe now is an educated man, he is a Medical Doctor by profession and he is reaching out to the youth. Though we have challenges with our youths involving in different things. He was able to bring them together to invoke his traditional power to let them know some of their activities are not good enough. Not only that, the Osemawe in Council is also taking steps to make provision for the youths to be able to work because they say an idle hand is the devil’s workshop. He has made a tremendous progress
from there. He has a lot of connections with us that are in the diaspora. August 1, 2015, we invited him to Dallas in the state of Texas and we had a very good meeting on where we think we can participate and as a result of that we have another body we call the Ondo Unity Forum of the America. It’s an umbrella body that over sees all other Ondo associations. One of our members, of recent personally by himself donated equipment to the medical university. They are of 21st century standard. So, we are making progress, the Osemawe is reaching out and I know we can still do better.
Our Wives Are Brains Behind The Success Of OEDC - Chief Akinlemibola Akinlemibola Clement Wale is one of the Past President of Ondo Ekimogun Dynamic Club. He speaks on what made OEDC unique among others. What do you think accounts for the uniqueness of the Club? Ondo Ekimogun Dynamic Club is about the only Club in the entire kingdom that has been in existence for 42 years and which is still as solid as we are today. We are united in purpose, we are united in action, our wives are fantastic and our wives are the brains behind the success of the Club. They keep on encouraging us when we seem discouraged. When we have issues, our wives will insist we must come together. I give the success of this Club to our wives because if they are not behind us, if they do not support us, if the wives are not united the Club would not be where it is today. They are the women wing of our Club and they support us. Secondly, I must also give kudos to the founding fathers, they are fantastic in bringing this Club together; putting it together and nurturing it to become big. We started when we were youths. We had a purpose and one of it is the vision to succeed as individuals. To God be the glory, God has been kind to us. Then the members, when you are committed to something, you will definitely do well. It is like God deliberately selected us from different families, different socio-economic back-
Chief Akinlemibola
grounds and put us together to form a bigger family. What is your perception of the Annual Ekimogun Day festival? The Ondo Ekimogun Day is a brand that has been on up to 33 years. It has become part of the Ondos. It is a celebration of life, people, it’s celebration of achievement and particularly an avenue to raise funds for the develop-
ment of Ondo kingdom. It’s a way of bringing the youths together to create kind of unity of purpose. For instance look at our Club. Every year we come like this, well dressed. It’s a way of showing the culture of Ondo. One of the social hub in the cultural realm. And people in the diaspora when they see us they get moved. They are moved and want to be part of the development.
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We Must Try To Put Our Succession Plan In Place’ In his contribution, Mr. Akintomiwa Olorunfunmilayo, a member of Ondo Ekimogun Dynamic Club speaks on succession. What would you say is the future of the Club? A generation brought it to 40 years, another generation has joined, we pray that this new generation will be able to see it to the next forty years. But what will be our legacy is our succession plan. We must try to put our succession plan in place so that they will take it from one generation to the other. I pray that we see the next 40 years. But what will be more enduring is the legacy to put in place. One of those things is that we must bring in people of the younger generation who will be taking us from the level of what the first generation did, what the second generation is about to do and the third generation will take it beyond that. So, what will be an enduring legacy is for us to involve the younger generation to be part of the lofty idea that gave birth to OEDC. Your perception of the Annual Ekimogun Day Festival? For me I will like us to have some things that will be dynamic, some things that will be more involving of the residents of Ondo. Some people believe it is an elitist programme which to me I don’t want it to sound like that. I want it to be more evolving and involving. From the Odunbami festival which is purely traditional, this one is purely social with need for us to raise funds
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Akintomiwa Olorunfunmilayo
for development projects. It should be beyond traditional, social and it should be a time for us to bring Ondo to the consciousness of the need for development. The Festival as a brand, how do you think it can project the Ondo Kingdom? With the level it is now, we will need to show the tourism aspect of it, it has to be the one that has traditional value because it is in two dimensions. One, we are looking at raising funds for development of Ondo and we are looking at our culture. So, if we are looking
at tourism, it has to be deeply involved in the tradition of the people and for other people to come into this place there must be that dynamism because tradition and culture is not static. We ought to do things that will encourage other people to come here. If it is for developmental project, I won’t see it as a tourism, the only thing I will see in that aspect is that we need to show our culture. Though we do not have many tourist centres in Ondo but we can still develop this aspect. That of tourism, I expect us to be more involving, to go deeply into our culture and see what can attract other people to us.
The Older Generations Have Actually Set The Pace High’ Olagundoye Damilola qualifies as one of the youths in Ondo Ekimogun Dynamic Club. He too commends the founding fathers; and also spoke on his convictions about this social organisation. Excerpts: Let’s take a look at the future of the Club? The older members have actually set the pace high, and for us the younger generation that is just coming on board, it is a challenge for us. But, it is a challenge that we are taking in a positive light. They have done so well for those number of years and we believe that we are taking the mantle of leadership in a positive way and we believe we have all it takes to sustain it even
to surpass all that the founding fathers and older members have achieved over the years God willing. Your views on the Annual Ekimogun Day festival? Ekimogun Day festival has been on a yearly basis since inception and has been a huge festival for every son and daughter of this kingdom. And, to that extent, that is the primary reason why everybody is here today. Over the years personally as an individual I grew up aspiring to be one of those people that will be in this gathering. It is like fulfilling my dreams and I believe this is also an avenue for a lot of people to see beyond just coming here. People that have been around in the last two days or three days have had the opportunity to see the beau-
Olagundoye Damilola
tiful things, where it started from, our culture, the traditions and all of those ancient features. So it’s a good thing and I believe it can only be better from this moment. BV.
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IT WAs time for all round celebrations and thanksgiving for Pa Bamidele Akinwale aka “Thunder” as he turned 70. The event which was held at Ado Ekiti in Ekiti State had in attendance family, friends and well-wishers with every one eulogizing him, especially past students of Ekiti State University where he retired after years of meritorious service. It was indeed a period of celebration, put together by the children and members of the immediate family. The children were particularly excited that they had the opportunity to celebrate their “Agba Akin.” Speaking with Brand Visibility at the ceremony, the elated Pa Akinwale said he was happy that his children could organize such a big event to mark his 70th birthday. “I have had memorable days in the past but to be recognised and celebrated by one’s children is a confirmation that one has not passed through here or struggled in vain; and it is indeed an appreciation of one’s contribution to humanity.” On his attitude to others especially the younger generation which informed the positive response from everyone on his special day, Thunder, his appellation from his exploit and dexterity on the field of soccer, said after God the Almighty and his parents, it was the Avatar, Late Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo that influenced his thoughts by his educational policy statement at the inception of his administration’s free primary education programme of 1955. “Let’s give every child equal opportunity to education to his or her own ability. “Going through my educational historical sequences, it could be seen that the only formal education acquired by me seamlessly was that of primary
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Celebrating Agba Akin Pa Akinwale @ 70 school. “This was all I needed to join Nigerian Army, coupled with my God- given intellect with which I was able to build myself up, to the Glory of God. “Secondly, there are four different individuals that assisted in the shaping of my military career. They included my late brother Dauda Fatayo, Mr. Joseph Adekunle Olawumi both of Aramoko connections and Captain Ahmadu Bukar and WO1 Abdul Ahmed who are God-sent helpers and mentors to me.” The celebrant also remembered succinctly the saying of his grandmother who inculcated in him the ideas of selfless service to mankind with no discrimination of whatever sort. “My advice to all is that the only enduring legacy one could leave behind is contribution to the upliftment of mankind,” he stated. In his message to the children, Pa Akinwale said, they should keep their present attitude of oneness and joyful bond. “They should continue to cherish their oneness and always be good to friends and they should never ever betray a trust,” he said. Speaking at the event, Pa Akinwale’s wife, Mrs. Flora Folasade Akinwale described her husband as a very unique and reserved being. “Since the day I met him, he has been a wonderful, loving and kind-hearted person, one thing I noticed in him then and till this moment is that he doesn’t look down on anyone. “He doesn’t believe something can-
The celebrant, Pa Bamidele Akinwale and Wife, Mrs. Flora Folashade Akinwale.
not be done especially education, he will never break the chains that bind you and will always be available to support you to move forward and ensure your progress especially in terms of education. On his fatherly role, the wife said generally Pa Akinwale has compassion for younger breeds and that shows in the way he takes care of his children. “He always feels concerned about the children and has brought them up with all he had. He loves his children so much and makes them his personal friends.” Eulogizing him further, Mrs. Akinwale said over the years she had learnt many positive things from him and that include believing in oneself. “I learnt from him that success is a slow process and that quitting does not speed it up, so keep going until you succeed. He doesn’t believe in short cut. He made me realize that it takes love, respect, trust, understanding, friend-
ship to make a marriage last. “I also learnt from him how to show more love to people around me. He gives out unconditionally, and I try to emulate him on that. He doesn’t believe in nagging. He will never promise what he won’t be able to do. To the children, Mrs. Akinwale said it was a good thing to celebrate their father as this had shown the extent to which they appreciate what he had done for them over the years. “My message to them is at least they’ve known much of their Father and all the good virtues he has, they should emulate him. They should take life easy, believe in themselves and the work of their hands. They should make sure they build on his good character, love others as themselves. They are all wonderfully made children, and we are proud of them.” To Pa Akinwale, she said: “Chief S.B Akinwale, Blessed is the day we met,
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Celebrating Agba Akin Pa Akinwale @ 70 keep moving forward with the good deeds everyone knows you for, keep encouraging the younger ones. I pray you’ll not know a better yesterday in Jesus name. Keep moving with your love to your wife and children as you always do. You’re the brain behind every one of us and God almighty will still keep and protect you for us, no matter how old you become, you shall witness the best of your children in Jesus name. “Keep encouraging us all, I wish we grow old together in good health, happiness, peace of mind and in abundance of God’s grace. There’s no perfection in human being but I can say you’re excellent, I rate you more than you can believe. You’re still moving higher till your old age my darling husband, Ire, Ayo awon omo wa a soju wa loruko Jesu. (May we witness the greatness of the children). Also speaking with Brand Visibility, Alhaja Mariam Ogunlade, Ekiti State Commissioner for Women Affairs and sister-in-law to the celebrant said she had known Pa Samuel Bamidele Akinwale for over 47 years. “Pa Samuel Bamidele Akinwale has always been a nice person to us as our senior brother and in-law. He was married to my immediate junior sister of blessed memory. (We lost her in 1994 after giving birth to her last baby girl.) Drawing from the worthy example of Pa Akinwale, she said: “My advice to parents out there is that, they should make the education of their children a priority, so that they would be able to enjoy their peace in their old age.” She also had a word for Pa Thunder: “My message to the celebrant is that, he should take life easy, pray for his chil-
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L-R: The celebrant, Pa Akinwale, Vice Chancellor Ekiti-State University, Prof. Edward Olanipekun and son, Mr. Eniola Hope Akinwale at the event.
dren, so that he could live to celebrate more birthdays in good and sound health.” An elated Eniola Hope Akinwale, the first son of Pa Akinwale described his father as an unimaginably unique person, “so most often you may not be quick to find words to describe him.” He said: “He is always slow to anger, so our opinions when we were kids were always heard and given attention. He is not wealthy, but just rich enough to attend to our basic welfare and education. “As my older version, we had a long emotionally frustrating story that I can
say, it is only God that can help a man sail to overcome the storms of life and clock 70. My opinion is that we the children have not done enough to celebrate him. I pray to God that my father should sail a minimum 30 more years in good health, God willing, the time to celebrate is still ahead, I mean, celebrations with him and not after him,” he said. The first daughter of the family, Olamide Akinwale described her father lovingly as “World’s Best”. She continues: “As the first daughter of the S.B AKINWALE Dynasty, you should know I will have more than
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Celebrating Agba Akin Pa Akinwale @ 70
The celebrant with the Hon. Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Ekiti State, Alh. Mariam Bimbola Ogunlade
enough to share. “My Dad, My Hero, My First Love, without telling stories everyone can relate the relationship between father and daughters. My dad Chief S.B Akinwale is an inspirational body to me and everyone he comes across. She, like her elder brother relate their growing up and said: “Our growing up was indeed awesome, My dad can go miles when it comes to education and putting one through life, a great numbers of our friends can relate to this, if you are not interested in academics or setting your life goals, you are not serious by my dad’s standard. You have to be academically related to us before you can enter into my Father’s house.” “Therefore, My father’s Day is the perfect chance for us to return the love we received from him as a figure in our life’s, though on a daily basis, I chose to celebrate my dad as the most wonderful being in my life. Growing up my dad taught us to make honesty, trustworthiness and kindness the foundations of all our doings. “He is a selfless person, one who doesn’t joke with his children and
Pa Akinwale, wife and daughter, Olamide Akinwale.
everyone around him, he indeed guided us through life. Celebrating him at 70, is the smallest of what we have in store, we will live to celebrate more and more with him.” In her message to the celebrant, Olamide said he should keep being the good man he is, should sit back healthy to enjoy what he truly laboured for, even at 100years we will still be burning millions of birthday candles for him. I love him from day one and till forever.” For Abimbola Anita Akinwale, also one of the daughters of Pa Akinwale, her Dad is the most courageous and resourceful man on earth. “I never questioned if he loved or cared for me because he made it so obvious, he brought us all up in love and with love. He is a definition of a true father and he forfeited a lot to make sure I get the best in life. She added: “He offered nothing but the best, the fatherly care, attention, listening ear, financial capabilities, love. He was there from my day one on earth till now. My dad is an incredible man. He provided for his family and made sure his children had the guidance they
needed. He is one of a kind and my best friend. Also relating their growing up, Anita said: “My father is my biggest cheerleader and my greatest role model. I could call him at any time and he always has a solution to my problem. He made it known to me, that life and challenges roll together, and he promised me his full support whenever and at every moment the needs arise. On the attribute of Pa Akinwale, Anita said that “If contentment is a person, my father would have owned the crown, and he made sure he imparted that into our lives. “My father’s favorite adage says [eni ńwá ìfà, ńwá òfò] (whoever inordinately seeks for freebies will end up with loses.) He chose to work so hard to make our lives easy, but he often makes us understand the importance of hard work. He never handicapped us with sufficiency. “They say even the nicest ones have their limits, but how come my dad doesn’t have limits? It means he’s nicer than the nicest. Love you so much my super hero, Daddy, you’ve given me so
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Abimbola Anita Akinwale
many invaluable things in life and I will always be grateful for them. A perfect man is who you are, a perfect dad is what you’ve been,” she said. On the decision to celebrate Pa Akinwale on his 70th birthday, Anita said it was to show love to him because he has always been there for them at every step and journey of life. “He taught me how to be strong and courageous; his support, patience, guidance, kindness and love keeps us moving; he is in all of my favorite memories. “My dearest father, generosity, love, care, and wisdom are very profound and second to none in this world. Celebrating seven decades of a life well lived is just a peak of the iceberg.” Her message to the celebrant: “One of the best things you’ve done for us as a family is ensuring that we live and stay as one. It means everything to us.
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Thanks for doing so much. “Like they say, he who has a reason to live can do anything to survive in other to live for the thing. We are the reason for your living. Thank you for everything. “May God never leave you and may you continue to bask in God’s glory, dad. I cherish you more than words can explain. I wish you a life filled with greatness and everlasting joy and I pray to God to grant you more beautiful, healthy years to keep celebrating you,” she said. For Odunitan Akinwale, the celebrant is good hearted, honest, caring, loving, and he is a man of discipline and order.” Family is always the first thing for him. He’s an Honorable man honored and respected by many in any society you might have met him, so I think that makes him an influential man. He added: “My father fought in the Nigerian war and he came back with victory for our country. “Daddy for all you’ve done for me and my siblings, for this Nation Nigeria, I call you a Hero. For all that you’re, I think it really worth celebrating you living to see 70th of your life and I believe we will still celebrate you more and more. I appreciate and love you My Hero, My Mirror, My Everything and thanks for bringing me into this world.” Faith Akinwale in her response thanked the celebrant for his fatherly role. “He has simply been the best role model in in our career and I want to say thank you to him for is ever present, love, support and direction that have helped in shaping my world.” Mrs. Awolokun Funmilayo Adekola, also a daughter to the celebrant said the celebrant is a father that everyone
will like to be with,” because he’s a great man that love and care for his children and want the best for people around him and he is a lover of education. “He made me what I am today and celebrating him while he is still alive is the best we can do. So, I celebrate him today and always because he is the best daddy. “I pray he celebrate more of this day on earth and may the good Lord spare his life to eat the fruit of his labor,” she said. The youngest in the family, Bamidele Akinwale (Jnr) appreciated his father for the kind of discipline he used in bringing them up which he believed helped shaped their lives. “He gives no room for indiscipline caring less about how old you might be. I love the fact that he never gives up on us and kept pushing us through, making sure we keep and guide a sane mind. “Even with the discipline aspect, he is the kind of father every child would wish to call theirs. I know we disagree over so many things, but it’s always been a process to agree. Words can’t describe how amazing he has been to us and how much he really loves us and we love him too.” To his daddy and celebrant, Bamidele Junior thanked him for being an amazing father. “I love him so much and I pray that God grants all his heart desires and crown his selflessness with long life in good health. “Thanks for being amazing, I know I don’t say this often but I’m saying it now you’re the best Dad everyone would wish they had, grateful that you’re mine, since it’s crystal clear no way I could pay
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Celebrating Agba Akin Pa Akinwale @ 70 you back, so my plan is to make you understand that you’re appreciated,” he added. Former Deputy Registrar, Ekiti State University, Mr. Ayo Ajiboye said he had known the celebrant for 32 years. He described him as a diligent and highly committed person during his days in the public service. “At home, a loving and caring father and outside, a reliable ally, a focused leader of people and always seeking the common good of his followers. “On his 70th birthday, I wish him all the best, sound health and longevity,” he said. Mr. Olusola Waya, a retired Director and a brother to Pa Akinwale, described him as a good brother whom he could rely on for his advice on any issue. “He is honest, intelligent and always ready to take challenges, a good family man, and very liberal and gives out to people without thinking of getting anything in return. “He worked both in technical and administrative departments of EKSU and these two departments can never forget his marvelous performance till date. “I am using this medium to congratulate him on the occasion of his 70th birthday celebration. I wish him long life with good health and abundant blessings.” Also speaking with BV, a friend from Ondo State Sports Council, Mr. Sola Adetule described the celebrant as a bosom and reliable friend of over four decades. “l wish to congratulate him on his Special day and wish him many happy returns in good health and happiness. “My advice to him at this auspicious occasion is to remain himself and be
Pa Akinwale, wife and children
prayerful for himself and the children always.” Director of Quality Assurance, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, (ABUAD) and former Vice-Chancellor, University of Ado-Ekiti, (UNAD), Prof. Israel Olatunji Orubuloye described Pa Akinwale as reliable, warm, kind, honest and a courageous person. “My message to him is to spend the rest of his life in peace, continue to be of help to others within his available means. “I pray he spends the rest of his old age in good health. “Welcome to the cohort of the aged population,” he said. Profile: Pa Akinwale was born on the 1st April, 1952 to the family of Mr. Akinwale Joseph Ayodele of The Olugunmoye Dynasty of Ise-Ekiti and Mrs. Rachel Ajiyegbe Akinwale (Née Ashaolu) of The Mèèkò Oisinkin Dynasty of Aramoko-Ekiti. Pa Akinwale attended St. Joseph’s CAC Pry School, Aramoko 1958-1965; CAC Modern School, 1966-1967; Baptist High School, Igede-Ekiti 1968; He enlisted into The Nigerian Army in 1968;
A veteran of The Nigeria Civil War of 1968-1970; he obtained Army Certificate of Education Class 1, 1970; and he is an Alumnus Nigeria Army Armoured Corps School Ibadan 1971-1972. He also attended the Royal Armoured Corps Centre Bovington Camp United Kingdom. 1974/78 and the American Army Armoured School, FortKnox. Kentukey USA 1976. He attended the Federal Polytechnic (Ado) for the ND in 1995 and HND 2000; University of Ado-Ekiti (Ado) PGD from 2002 and University of Ado-Ekiti (Ado) MPA 2010. His Working Experience include: Soldering 1968-1979; Ondo State Sports Council, Akure, Maintenance Officer (Mech) 1980-1985; Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti Maintenance Officer (Mech) 1987-2008; Principal Executive Officer (Admin) 2008-2012; Nigeria Universities Pensioners Association EKSU Chapter General Secretary 2014-2021 and Chairman (NUPA EKSU Chapter) 2021 to date. He was married to late Mrs Abiola Omolola Akinwale and now Mrs. Florence Folasade Akinwale. BV.
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CELEBRATING AGBA AKIN PA AKINWALE @ 70
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with Boluwatife Awokuse
Some diseases are deadly but curable while some are considered opportunistic like cancer and HIV/AIDS. Opportunistic infections are illnesses that occur more frequently and are more severe in people with HIV. Taking a look into Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a virus or germ which leads to Acquire Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) if not managed, because it is not curable. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the outbreak of HIV and AIDS has swept across the United States and the rest of the world since 1980s and early 1990s, though the disease was discovered decades earlier. Today, more than 70 million people have been infected with HIV and about 35 million have died from AIDS since the start of the pandemic. WORLD AIDS DAY World AIDS Day was first conceived as a means to capitalise on a media gap that existed between the United States presidential elections of 1988 and the Christmas. James Bunn, a broadcast journalist who had taken a post at the World Health Organization (WHO), was convinced that audiences could be drawn to the story after nearly a year of non-stop campaign coverage. He and his colleague, Thomas Netter, decided that December 1 was the ideal date for the people with AIDS to be celebrated. This virus is transmitted through bodily fluids such as blood, semen, vaginal fluids, anal fluids, and breast milk. Historically, HIV has most often been spread through unprotected sex,
What To Know About
HIV/AIDS
the sharing of needles for drug use, and through birth. The symptoms of HIV vary depending on the stage of infection; some people get flu-like symptoms a month or two after they have been infected. This is called the acute stage. These symptoms often go away within a week to a month. One can have HIV for many years before feeling ill. This is called clinical latency or the chronic stage. Though people living with HIV tend to be most infectious in the first few months after being infected, many are unaware of their status until the later stages. In the first few weeks after initial infection people may experience no symptoms or an influenza-like illness including fever, headache, rash or sore throat. As the infection progressively weak-
ens the immune system, they can develop other signs and symptoms, such as swollen lymph nodes, weight loss, fever, diarrhea and cough. Without treatment, they could also develop severe illnesses such as tuberculosis, Cryptococcus meningitis, severe bacterial infections, and cancers such as lymphomas and Kaposi’s sarcoma. HIV disease cannot be cured but can be managed by treatment regimens composed of a combination of three or more antiretroviral (ARV) drugs. Current antiretroviral therapy (ART) does not cure HIV infection but highly suppresses viral replication within a person’s body and allows an individual’s immune system recovery to strengthen and regain the capacity to fight off opportunistic infections and some cancers. Since prevention is better than cure, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) emphasizes the use of proven public health approaches to reduce the incidence and spread of disease. 1. Make HIV testing a routine part of medical care 2. Implement new models for diagnosing HIV infections outside medical settings. 3. Prevent new infections by working with people diagnosed with HIV and their partners. 4. Further decrease mother-to-child HIV transmission. References Verywellhealth.com My.cleverlandcliinic.org Who.int BV.
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Trends In Fashion: Reinventing Old Styles Tosin Adebayo Creativity in fashion is repeating itself but often times stylishly reinvented. The fashion industry sees a regular changing and reintroducing the once popular styles which ordinarily shoyld have been classified as ‘old school’ Surprisingly styles from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s are either staging a return to the fashion scene to suit the tastes and preferences of current times. Designers are embracing these renewed trends with everything sense of creativity, and simultaneously following the fashion footsteps of some of the favorite celebrities and influencers. We shall introduce you to some of these styles which are very familiar and are common, easy to notice these days. 1. JEANS (Flare, loose women jeans, dad and mom jeans) Skinny jeans have been rocking and reigning the fashion world in the past decades. Things seem to be little as what has taken the fancy of some jean lovers today is the “mom” and “dad” styles of the ‘90s. Rising in popularity, is also being a renewed interest in the fun, flared jeans that were staples of this decade as well as the loose women’s jean The style at hand or leg is commonly referred to as “mom jeans.” They have
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become more visible in the past year on Instagram fashionistas and teens in Netflix shows, and championed by youths on TikTok. Known for their high waisted, loose-fitting and tapered around the ankle look, mom jeans were incredibly popular back in the ’90s and have made a strong comeback in the 21st century with many new ways to style them. Say goodbye to skinny jeans because mom jeans are the new thing. Jeans are usually quite easy to find at thrift stores, which is a great way to reduce waste, and you can pair them with boots and belts for an off-duty model look. 2. CORDUROY Corduroy was incredibly popular in the ’70s and was mainly used for children’s clothing. Coming back into fashion in this era, we see corduroy everywhere. From jackets, pants, handbags, shirts and skirts, corduroy is the new fashionable material. 3. CHUNKY SNEAKERS Chunky sneakers were a trend that nobody thought would come back into style again. But like they were in the ’80s, these have made a huge comeback, with many designer brands such as Gucci and Balenciaga rocking the chunky sneaker.
4. SCRUNCHIES Hair accessories have been a massive part of fashion since the beginning of time. It’s no surprise that society has gone through their fair share of trendy hair accessories. But, in this 21st century, scrunchies have made a return to the fashion game. Not only fashionable amongst your fellow peers, but many celebrities are also rocking this trend too. Scrunchies are actually quite easy to make yourself using fabric scraps for a more sustainable and economical approach. 5. SILK SCARVES This is one fashion item that didn’t just come back but has been totally re-
FASHION
Trends In Fashion: Reinventing Old Styles vamped, fashion icons and lovers have redefined the style of silk scarves. Silk scarves were a big hit in the ’50s and are a big hit today. The scarves aren’t worn today as was done in the ’50s. Instead, we’re becoming more creative, turning the silk scarves into tops, hair accessories and even sometimes a matching skirt and top. See if you can repurpose old scarves of your own or your parents instead of throwing them out. 6. BIKER SHORTS The sporty 8O’s favorite proves once again that the trend cycle never fails. Talk about bringing old trends to life, these short shorts trended in the ’80s and also in the ’90s and once again right now in the 21st century. As it made its statements back then today we see it making fashion statements from the runways to the streets. These shorts can be rocked in various ways but commonly seen is pairing these shorts with oversized sweaters, t-shirts and also with a pair of sneakers. 7. FLARED PANTS 70’s favorite flared pants have amazingly made a comeback in today’s world. We are seeing this silhouette due to the retro style coming back into fashion. Not only are we seeing more and more people rock them at festivals and special events, but also in their everyday life. 8. RIPPED DENIM This fashion favorite seems to come back into main stream fashion 5-10 years. In the 80’s, ripped denim was a staple in many of our closets. And no
surprises that, ripped denim is once again popular. Seen mostly on ripped jeans and jackets, it is slowly becoming a must have item in our closets once again. 9. BUM BAGS/FANNY PACK Bum bags are a hands-free accessory that used to be incredibly popular in the ’80s and even ’90s. Although they were later scorned and subsequently fell out of fashion in the 2000’s, we are seeing bum bags becoming more and more popular today. The very convenient and easy to carry fanny pack used to be common just amongst the corps members, it has however evolved now and is also becoming a principal item in the fashion industry. You can find designer ones at fashion stores across the country. 10. CARGO PANT Making a return from the 1930’s is a much-updated style of the cargo pants that we’ve been seeing around the fashion corner. This comeback is much cooler than the baggy than the heavily pocketed options of the 1930’s. it’s stylish and comfy to wear. 11. BUCKET HAT This trendy head wear first became popular in the ‘60s during the mod fashion era and it made a return in the ‘90s, and now with its latest return it has become a staple item for Gen Z and young millennials. However, they are not wearing the old bucket hat anymore, though similar to the ‘90s, the current version of bucket hats is more expressive creatively and we see them in denim, multiple colors, patchwork,
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Trends In Fashion: Reinventing Old Styles this puff-sleeve blouse, which has the potential to be a versatile staple in your wardrobe.
vibrant colors, and checkerboard print and so much more. With these readily available options they will add style and pop of color to any outfit. 12. OVERALLS (Jean, casual baggy) Overalls are arguably one of the most fun items that have made their way back into the mainstream. And we’re no longer limited to boxy, poorly-fitted styles. New styles, like these casual cotton overalls, are far chicer and more versatile. When it comes to fashion, rules are meant to be broken. That’s why we suggest you don these white overalls all year long. Although the work-ready design may remind you of your dad’s old-school pair, these are much cooler. 13. PEARL EMBELLISHED PUFF SHORT SLEEVE BLOUSE The puffed, statement sleeves of the ‘80s were big and bold (just like everything else during that time). Recent takes are more understated, like
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14. BUTTERFLY CLAW CLIP and TOCESS BIG HAIR CLAW CLIPS Remember those plastic clips that your mom would complain about you leaving all over the house? Well, it’s time to dig out your collection again, because the styles you once loved are back. From small butterfly designs to big claw clips, there are plenty of options that add a modern twist to the trend. The new butterfly clips are sturdy, well designed and elegant. The great thing about this trend is that it’s actually super functional. Big clips, like this can be used to pull your hair back for workouts or add a fun pop of color to any updo. 15. THRIFT The second-hand industry in Nigeria is a large one that has been saving the average Nigerian in untold high prices and helping them remain stylish and elegant. It’s a great alternative to buying and wearing expensive clothes Nigerian clothe sellers only sell what’s in vogue, compared to Western countries where there’s a lot of variety. The only variety people who can’t afford brand new clothes have is the thrift market, which is a saving grace for so many.
BV with inputs from:
Silk scarves: hatshopping. Com Scrunchies: madeeveryday.com Cordroy: gq. Com Overalls: glamour.com Flared jeans: thesecretlabel.com
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