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Showing posts from June 28, 2015

My dream is for every Nigerian to own a home -Wale Bello

Prince Wale Muftau Bello, CEO, MSH & H, is not your everyday businessman. Though he’s in the real estate sector, which is a very lucrative sector, Bello, who’s also a politician, is not into the sector primarily to make money, but to contribute his quota to Nigeria’s growth so that Nigeria’s housing problem can be solved. In this interview, he tells OSEYIZA OOGBODO BLOG what should be done to solve the critical housing problem once and for all. Prince Wale Muftau Bello is one entrepreneur who is as astute as they come. A real estate entrepreneur since 2008 when he was in his final year at the Lagos State Polytechnic where he studied accountancy, he discloses easily why he’s into real estate. “I’m basically into what I can call the lifeline of every individual. We know that after food and clothing, the next thing is shelter, where a man lives, where he heads to after work or the business of the day. I’m into property, buying and selling of land, and anything that concerns property,

ARFH hands over Lagos HIV vulnerable children project

The Association for Reproductive and Family Health (ARFH) has formally handed over the orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in Lagos supported by the Global Fund through the Global Fund Round 9 Phase 11 HIV/AIDS Grant to the Lagos State Government. Speaking at the handover during the week, Kehinde Osinowo of ARFH explained that the project was specifically targeted at children infected with or made vulnerable through HIV/AIDS and that they were handed over to the LASG to continue with their care as the Global Fund provided just the funds to take care of them from January 1st, 2013 to June 30th, 2015. “We selected only OVCs in dire need of education, skills, health services and other psycho-social services,” she added. “The phenomenal increase in the number of vulnerable children from all causes is an issue of great concern and calls for more concerted efforts to reduce the burden of OVC in Lagos State.” Also speaking, Omobolanle Ogunmola, Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of W

Twins of music

There is no doubt that the singing twins, P-Square, seem to be the only set of singing twins the country because they are the most popular, most visible and most successful such twins. They are however not the only musically inclined twins Nigeria boasts of. There are many other singing twins like P-Square, but none as successful as them. Among these others are some who have endeavoured musically to the extent that they have achieved a bit of recognition and success. Twin-X, Oshadipe Twins, Adegbodu Twins, Ajogbajesu Twins, Twins Affair, Twice and PIP Classic are some of these others. Of their number, Twin-X can be said to have come closest to P-Square. Back in the days when they broke into the industry, they were managed by Big Bamo, a music producer cum record label proprietor, who was also behind the breakthrough success of the groups, Maintain, and Krazy Kulture. Nowadays, not much is being heard of Twin-X musically, but back in the mid-2000s when they were really hot, they could

I'm in Malaysia to become an international star -Sunky

Fast-rising model-actor Olasunkanmi Ogunade popularly known as Sunky shocked the entertainment industry with his sudden relocation to Malaysia to study. One of the lead characters of popular soap opera, Two Sides Of A Coin, and also a face of Chivita, he was in the country recently and he told OSEYIZA OOGBODO BLOG about life in the Asian country. How is life in Malaysia? Well, to start with, Malaysia is a developing country and it’s moving at a very fast pace. It’s a very beautiful country and I am enjoying every bit of it. It can be weird at times but it’s all part of the adventure. Life there is easy as it’s a country where the wellbeing of the citizens comes first. Three square meals a day is guaranteed there. As far as I’m concerned, food is the cheapest thing there. When you wake up, you don’t need to think about what to eat or where. With 10 ringits, you are very okay for the day. There are so many different aspects but I choose to stop here. Food is an important aspect of life

Alaafin’s son, Tilla, to tour UK, Ireland

Tilla, the musician son of the Alaafin of Oyo, has concluded plans to embark on a tour of UK and Ireland and set the plans in motion by dropping the video of his latest single, Badman. The tour, which will see Tilla performing at Cambridge, Birmingham, Manchester, London, Oxford, Liverpool, Dublin, Glasgow and Aberdeen, was arranged by his label, Aquila Records, in conjunction with Certified Nation and DIY Entertainment. Meanwhile, Badman, which’s audio was released a few weeks ago, is fast spreading, and when its video was exclusively premiered to a select list of industry eggheads recently, their reaction was generally of awe and surprise with several of them commenting on how different and superlative it is.

AdeJosh sings Karolina

London-based 21-year-old Nigerian afrobeats singer, songwriter, and musician AdeJosh, has dropped the music video for his debut single, Karolina, which was produced by long-time collaborator ATG Musick, and has been released on iTunes by potlight First Entertainment. Karolina, the first official solo single from AdeJosh, comes on the back of his addictive collaborative single, Silver And Gold, with Lcxn and Obado; last December’s massive hit, Make We Go, with Rugez STP; and stellar collaborations with YFS, Selecta Aff and Jibbz Olowo that have put AdeJosh firmly on the worldwide music map. Directed by Danny Wonders for WonderVision on location at the renowned Lost Theatre in London, with dance choreography and art direction from Susan King, the Karolina music video sees AdeJosh starring as a talent show contestant trying to get to his Karolina amidst a flurry of dancers, while imagining himself performing at a live concert, as the future superstar he is destined to be. Having been maki

Lupita Nyong'o finally wears an African designer

Leading fashion label, Maki Oh continues to prove a hit amongst Hollywood’s fashion elite as Lupita Nyongo’o has worn two classic hand-painted and hand-dyed pieces by the designer and champion of adire, the traditional Yoruba cloth dyed with natural indigo. The Oscar winner, currently on her much talked about homecoming tour – her first since winning the movie industry’s top award for her breakout role in 12 Years A Slave – returns to Kenya with a mission to save wild animals. She has since been named a global elephant ambassador. At two of her public outings, the actress made fashion forward choices including a silk satin scarf blouse and silk cotton skirt ensemble to a mentorship talk where she spoke about the importance of art in education. Later at a press conference, she wore a silk satin and velvet vest with silk cotton wide leg trousers to spearhead a new campaign to stop the slaughter of elephants for their valuable ivory. Maki Oh is the first African designer the actress has w

TFAA calls for nominations

As part of its the launch of the 2015 season of The Future Awards Africa (TFAA), The Future Project (TFP) paid courtesy calls to the Canadian High Commissioner, Mr Perry John Calderwood and Swiss Deputy Head of Mission, Mr Daniel Cavegn, in Abuja recently. The courtesy team will also be visiting Senegal, South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya and Ghana throughout July 2015 in order to introduce TFAA and its goals. The courtesy team included Mfon Ekpo, Executive Director, The Future Project, Bukonla Adebakin, Team Lead, The Future Project, Jake Okechukwu, Winner, The Future Awards Africa Prize in Community Action 2014, Debbie Magnut, External Relations Director at RED, and Ikechukwu Akagba, Lead, The Future Project Volunteer, Abuja. The courtesy visits also announced the commencement of nominations for the 10th annual TFAA, and the awards are seeking nominations from the public, for people between the ages of 18 and 31 who have been able to create incredible impact and well documented accomplis

Ace entertainers, Gbenga Adeyinka, Okey Bakassi enroll with NEIHIS

Across the length and breadth of the country, more and more entertainers, both young and old have continued to identify with the Nigerian Entertainment Industry Health Insurance Scheme (NEIHIS) and the prominent entertainers are not left out. Talented comedians, actors and great comperes, Gbenga Adeyinka and Okey Bakassi have also joined fellow premier entertainers who have enrolled with the Nigerian Entertainment Industry Health Insurance Scheme (NEIHIS). They were both recently presented with their official documents and other healthcare packages. Speaking during his official presentation, Gbenga Adeyinka who also doubles as an ambassador to the scheme says having an insurance policy of this nature is long overdue. ”This initiative is one of the best things that happened to our industry in recent years and it is high time we all as entertainers come on board to join this laudable project. I have decided to safeguard future worries by been part of a well-thought insurance scheme for m

Sore loser … Yemi Alade takes BET loss bitterly

When Yemi Alade was announced as one of the nominees for the Africa category of this year’s BET Awards, she didn’t complain. She was definitely happy at the nomination and definitely hoping to win. A lot of fans also hoped that she would win and become the category’s first female winner. Alas, the award ceremony held last weekend, and she didn’t win. She however turned out to be a sore loser and lambasted the organizers after her loss. According to her, BET is humiliating Africa with the category and they should scrap it. “By the way, BET, Africa is not a country,” she wrote in an online post. “It is wrong to nominate huge African stars and publicly try to humiliate Africa. Why on earth is the African category of the awards held hours before the main event? “If African artists are not worthy in your sight, please by all means cancel, delete, omit the Africa category out of this glorified award. This is wrong, wrong, wrong. Please next time, credibility over paddy, paddy.” Now, the onl

Skales attacks Davido ... ‘I’m self-made, unlike you’

Self-acclaimed Man Of the Year, Skales, is not a stranger to controversy. As a matter of fact, his music career has been aided greatly by one controversy or the other. While signed on to Banky W’s Empire Mates Entertainment popularly known as EME, the basic controversy about him was that he was the underdog to another EME signee, Wizkid, so he gained a lot of fans who were sympathetic to his perceived plight of being neglected by the label for Wizkid. And when EME refused to renew his contract, that he wasn’t justifying its investments in and on him, his rejection by the label turned out to be a blessing in disguise for him as it gained him more fans still out of sympathy. EME’s rejection of him made the music loving public want to listen to him, so when he released Shake Body post-EME, it became a massive hit. Probably aware of what being controversial was doing for him, he and Wizkid had a very public falling out in which they allegedly tore each other to pieces online. Many people s