Terry G, De Don, Others Thrill At Legend Taste And Tell

Uzo Chikere

The 2015 edition of Taste And Tell’ activation recently berthed in the ancient city of Benin, Edo State with Terry G as the headline act.

The event which is at the instance of Legend Extra Stout saw the Akpako master apparently came prepared to thrill the crowd that thronged the Playhouse Events Centre Benin as he churned out some of his popular songs from his repertoire.  Brandishing his trademark bell which he chimed in cadence to his songs, the Benue Born dance hall artiste gave a superlative performance that left the audience asking for more. Even though he was the last act to perform during the event, it was well worth the wait for the revellers.

Terry G was not the only entertainer to perform at the Legend ‘Taste and Tell’ Activation. The event also featured hilarious comedy from the duo of De Don and Buchi. The comedians left the fun seekers reeling with laughter as they dished out joke after joke.

However it was not all about the entertainers. The audience took the centre stage in the Legend ‘Taste and Win’ Game. Interested tasters were randomly selected from the crowd to identify which of the glasses contained the Real Stout. Prior to the game, basic characteristics of a real stout were read out by the comedian to include, unique and exciting bitter taste, a quality foam head and smoothness. At the end of the game, Blessing Kofi, a dancer as well as Abel Isele and Uyi Adams, both students of the University of Benin, were declared winners. Abel Isele got a brand new refrigerator, Uyi Adams was the lucky winner of a brand new plasma TV while Blessing Kofi, the only female winner, went home with a brand new generator.

Speaking on the activation, the Senior Brand Manager – Stout and Life beer, Nigerian Breweries PLC, Funso Ayeni, stated that the activation was a fulfilment of the brand’s promise to consistently engage and reward its consumers.

He said: “Today the brand continues to enjoy steady patronage and we owe it to our teeming consumers. We do not take their support for granted and that is why in addition to our pledge of always delivering a stout drink of the highest quality to our consumers, we are always looking for ways to engage and appreciate them.”

The Legend ‘Taste and Tell’ Activation, which kicked off in March 2015, will move to other cities across the country, ending in June 2015. Lucky winners walk away with mouth-watering prizes like generators, refrigerators, TV sets and free Legend Extra stout drinks amongst others.

PMAN Unveils New Biometric ID Card Scheme

Uzo Chikere

Despite that the Performing Mucians Employers Association of Nigeria (PMAN) has been reeling under the pain of factionalisation for some time now the body has gone on to make history as it recently unveiled the members’ biometric identity card in Lagos.

Led by its president, Pretty Okafor, the interim executive under a convivial atmosphere, announced the advantages and value of the card to Nigerian musicians.

The colourful event which also marked the first 100 days of Okafor in office took place at Four Points Sheraton Hotels, Victoria Island had many musicians as well as the corporate bodies in attendance.

In his speech, Okafor said: “ The scheme is informed by the need to close the yawning gap between creativity and development in Nigeria-music as a development challenge. Said to be emerging, Nigeria’s music industry now generates billions of naira on an annual basis that ends up predominantly in the coffers of foreign and Nigerian pirates. Other sums of similar size belonging to Nigerian musicians lie trapped in the vaults of several foreign (legitimate) establishments due to gross policy and institutional inadequacies on the side of our nation. There is certainly no pride in knowing that a country as big and as endowed as Nigeria has no standard or world-class record label. It is disheartening  to see talented Nigerian musicians groveling before gangs of heinous and artistically clueless pirates, eating off their palms in absolute desperation and pathetic helplessness like congenital beggars.”

He however warned that pirates would be dealt with if they continued their nefarious activities after the expiration of the time of grace given to them.

Making a formal presentation of the biometric ID card, Okafor spoke on the media distribution framework.

The biometric identity card scheme he revealed is a product of sponsorship of and collaborations with many corporate organisations among which are MTN, Diamond Bank, Heritage bank and UBA. Ohers include Bank of Industry, Microsoft Nigeria, Tuntise ICT, Total Health Trust, Multi-Shield, Royal Exchange Insurance, GS1, Indigo PR, among others.

It was a day of long speeches as Felix Duke and Angel Zig Zag thrilled the gathering with their songs.

The likes of Ras Kimono, Charley Boy, Blackky, Sunny Neji, Zakky Adzay, Olu Maintain, Rasque were among those who graced the occasion.

We Have Golden Opportunity To Put Things Right

 … Durojaiye

Elder statesman and former senator, Olabiyi Durojaiye, in this interview with Uzo Chikere speaks on the 2015 election, the challenge before the judiciary and why the country is going down by the day, among other national issues.

Looking at the tension generated by the up-coming elections, do you really have fears?

I have no fears at all.  My courage stems from my faith in God; that God loves this country and I am sure he will not allow it to be destroyed by people who are not doing what they ought to do or who are doing what they ought not to do. So that gives me the courage that this election will come and go and by the grace of God, and Nigeria will still remain steady and peaceful. In fact, there will be an upturn because once we effect the change we are praying for, things will be better for the country. It is that optimistic view that I have. Not that I am not aware that there are odds and some serious challenges ahead of us. But with courage and steadfastness, we will overcome them.   

Where would you say was the juncture at which we started missing the point?

I think it’s since the intervention of the military. If the military had not intervened, probably we would have learned from our mistakes and we would have stabilised. It is the intervention of the military in the first instance that eroded or destroyed the constitution that our founding fathers agreed with the colonial powers – the 1960 Constitution, parliamentary arrangement. It is not that the military didn’t have some reasons, some excuses, for intervening. But if you compare the challenges of the 1960s, the level of corruption shouted about in those days, with what we have today, you will know that we have degenerated. But the beauty of democracy is that it is self-correcting. So we will have to learn from our mistakes and let the system correct itself.

What exactly do you see as the issues lacking in our contemporary political culture?

The fault is in every one of us. We have left being Africans, aspiring to imitate the Whites and we never got there. The politicians of the First Republic were respected by members of the society. Today, politicians can only buy their respect. The respect is not voluntary. It is two sides. There are two ways to it. The fault lies with the leaders and also with the followers who feel that whoever wants their support or respect must pay for it; and the leaders who feel everybody is worth a price. Both are wrong. Even then, if you trace it further, you get to the family structure. Society appears to be disintegrating. The Africanness in us, whereby the juniors respect the seniors; whereby people fear God; whereby people apply conscience among other values is lacking nowadays. It has reached a level that if you want to send your son or daughter half a mile away, unless you really persuade him or her with some money for transportation, the frowning will be so serious. In our days, we obeyed our parents; the women respected their husbands; the husbands were responsible. Today the family unit is crumbling. There is no law and order, even from homes. The family is the microcosm, the minimum unit of society. If we want to correct it, we have to start from the beginning. Education has something to do about it – you need to educate the society about the culture of our people.

Would you say your generation has been fair to the nation in terms of constructive advice?

Let me not be a champion for my generation. I can only speak for myself because we don’t speak with one voice anymore. The falcon does not hear the falconer and the centre is no longer holding. So, I can only talk of myself. However, if we want to get things right we have a golden opportunity now to start somewhere. Instead of bemoaning our fate, we have a golden opportunity now in the next four or five weeks to put things right. Let’s have a change in the structure of things in the country. That is the way I see it.

If you check some of the interviews I granted in the past five, six years, perhaps more, I have always emphasised on studying the performance of those great countries that are practicing democracy. That is, Great Britain, for about three centuries; the United States of America for about two centuries; and the largest democracy, India, for about 70 years. They have operated largely on two-party structure. This is the first time we are nearing that two-party structure in the country. It is an ingredient for making democracy work. The issues will be clearer, especially to the electorate. The manifestoes will be clearer than when we have 50 political parties. People are confused in such instances. Even literate communities will be confused, let alone an illiterate community as to the numerous symbols and what they stand for. Once you have two-party structure as it appears to be emerging now – the APC is a party to reckon with, and the PDP you cannot dismiss with the wave of a hand. They are still there. Let the other parties try to align with whichever is their choice.  Now, we’ve seen for 16 years the PDP has been holding sway. My own judgment is that they have failed.  Let APC try. Try four years, eight years; if we do not perform, there is nothing wrong for people going back to their first love – PDP. It is then that the democracy is going to be stable. We don’t have to get the military to do it for us.

Some people are saying that the military should be part of the election.

The military are not to do that. What are the police for? The constitution is clear. It is when we have invasion or threat of massive breakdown that we will invoke the state of emergency. It is then you can call the military. I do not support military coming to supervise election. It is not right. If I were in the Senate today, I would certainly vote against allowing military in the electoral process. This shows desperation, that the government wants to be there at all costs. But my advice to the government is: don’t ride the back of a tiger. Those who ride on the back of tigers always end up in the stomach of the tiger. It is not safe to invite military to come and help. That is my advice.

Are you worried when you look at the free fall of the naira and the general state of the economy?

I am not happy about that. That worries me a bit because it is our own doing, although we know that some of these things are not peculiar to Nigeria. It is a global event, but our approach to governance also worsens the situation. It started in 2008. We wobbled and wobbled and wobbled.

At a time we started stabilizing, but now, this little shock has come. It is like evil wind – we make some steps forward and more backward. The world is now, as people say, a global village. Whatever happens in America is reflected here. We are all connected. If there is trouble in Ukraine or upheaval in Syria, once the atmosphere is tainted, it affects other places. So, what is happening in the economy is so fragile that everyone is affected. But let me tell you this: we have the basic gift, endowment of God. God has been so generous to Nigeria. This is a country we should be calling ‘the country that flows with milk and honey’, like Israel claims. We have the right to claim it too, provided we behave ourselves, we curb our excess propensity to out-rich others. Starting with the leadership, when you bribe people to do your will, immediately you get the position you want to make back the money. For them, it is an investment. It fuels corruption instead of helping. Look at the indices, a lot of piracy going on our high seas. The estimate is given. It has been published in the newspapers. I have not got any strong rebuttal that about 400,000 barrels of crude oil or so are being siphoned and the proceeds pocketed. Nigeria must have been extraordinarily strong economically to be able to sustain that level of sabotage for so long. Look at our refineries, they are not working. We pay to extract the oil. We pay to export the crude. We pay to do the refining. We pay to bring it back. Will the price not be high for the consumer? Then without electricity being fixed, it will be difficult for industries to thrive. Among the things disturbing the economy is that a good number of companies have moved out. Once we have a purposeful government that will plug all those avenues of leakages in the system, which is what I believe a disciplined progressive All Progressives Congress (APC) government will do, we will get it right. We need to have a change of government – a government that has seen all the shortcomings of this present one and will try to put them right. Things will be better.

How would you assess the role of the judiciary in the affairs of the country?

At least, there is one word on the defense of the judiciary. The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) said recently: “Let me use this opportunity to sound a note of warning to all judicial officers. Do not allow any political party or politician to compromise your integrity or your future. We must never again be used as tools to truncate our nation’s democracy. I assure you that any judge found wanting will have himself or herself to blame as the National Judicial Council (NJC) will definitely not spare the rod in ensuring that the honour, respect and independence of the judiciary is protected.” This is not Biyi Durojaiye talking. This is the CJN, Justice Mahmud Mohammed, talking. This was published in The Nation of February 4, this year. It gives me solace. If the Chief Justice has seen the fear you are feeling, it means they have taken official note. The man who can put things right has seen it and has given the warning openly. I don’t remember ever seeing such a stern warning from the Bench. So, that is the answer. It gives me hope that things will be better.

There are people that are yet to get their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs). Do you have any word for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)?

Let me say that INEC has tried. Trying to change INEC chairman on the eve of the election is out of it. They have tried. Are you sure INEC was given all the requirements they put to government in the first instance? These people had almost four years to prepare for this election. We only hear that PVCs were not ready. Is it everything they ask for that was given and in time? You may find that somebody is working to make a situation where things will be unsteady, calling a dog a bad name in order to hang it. I am not a solicitor for Professor Attahiru Jega. But I can read between the lines. A responsible person will not allow his name to be soiled because the whole world is watching what we are doing here. Things have improved in the past days. I noticed that. But it is asking for the moon to expect that 100 per cent of the people will have the PVC and 100 per cent will go out on the day of election and vote according to conscience. It does not happen anywhere. Look at the statistics in more civilised and sophisticated places. In America, for instance, I don’t think they ever get up to 60 per cent of registered voters actually coming out to vote. And it is the majority view that will count. There is no time we will have 100 per cent coming. Once we have more than 60 per cent, we should go on.

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Genevive Nnaji Dines With 11 Fans

Nollywood thespian, Genevive Nnaji has finally fulfilled her pledge dining with 11of her fans selected from various Nigerian universities.

The development was part of the build-up to the recently staged Africa Magic Viewrs Choice Awards (AMVCA) of which Genevive is an ambassador of the lead sponsoring brand, Amstel Malta.

The Nollywood brand during the dinner offered tips, advice as well as sheared her experinces with the aspiring actors all of whom were chosen from the universities of Lagos, Benin, Abuja, Nsukka and Port-Harcourt based on their academic excellence.

“This is one experience I’m so sure not to forget”, one the students, Mitchel Bare of Unilag said, adding that “listening to her story concerning her journey to success straight from the horse’s mouth was really inspiring and I know for sure that every effort put into being the best is certainly worth everything.”

Genevive further expressed her pleasure to have interacted with the students she described as brilliant.

Rita Dominic Lands Oil And Gas funding Nor New Flick

Uzo Chikere

An impending flick to be made by Rita Dominic and her partner cum manager, Mildred Okwo is expected to be financed by an Oil and Gas Company. The deal was sealed recently in Lagos for the production of the movie to be entitled Mary.

The Meeting star was spotted at Danium Energy Services Limited, where the new movie deal was signed and unveiled to members of the public.

Insiders divulged that Afe Olumowe has been contracted by the parties to direct the flick, which should kick off production soon.

Olumowe, who directed the movie, When Love Comes Around, is said to have concluded talks with the companies involved and ready to hit the movie set.

Rita Dominic became one of the most sought-after actresses after her widely acclaimed successful movie, The Meeting, which was produced alongside her partner under The Audrey Silver Company.