Nigeria’s First lady, Aisha Buhari has directed all her staff to proceed on leave until further notice.
The announcement was made in a statement released on the official Instagram account of the first lady and signed by the Senior Special Assistant to the Office of the First Lady on Health and Development Partners, Mohammed Kamal.
He further stated that official engagements and work will continue virtually.
“This serves to inform all staff that the office of the First Lady will be closed for the upcoming festive period of Christmas and New Year.
“To this end, all staff are requested to proceed on leave, until further notice.
“Please note that official engagements and work can also continue virtually as it was done previously”
In another development, Aisha Buhari has denied social media reports that she is pregnant and expecting a baby.
Naija News reports that some pictures emerged online which has made Nigerians question if the wife of the President is pregnant.
The pictures were taken during the return of President Buhari and Aisha Buhari from Turkey where they attended the Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit, hosted by Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In an interview with BBC Pidgin on Monday, spokesman of the first lady, Sulaiman Haruna, denied reports that his principal is expecting another child.
The former lawmaker representing Kogi Central district, Dino Melaye, has threatened to lead Nigerians to the streets for protest if President Muhammadu Buhari fails to sign the Electoral Act (Amendment) Bill 2021 into law.
Naija News had earlier reported that the President on Monday rejected the bill which was earlier passed by the National Assembly.
Buhari returned the bill to the National Assembly and asked the lawmakers to work on the clause that has to do with direct primaries and return the document for assent.
Melaye in an interview with Channels Tv on Tuesday said if the country does not get it right, everything will continue to go wrong.
He said, “If Buhari refuses to sign the electoral bill, he will know that Nigeria is not the Banana Republic. I will lead Nigerians to the streets for protest. A kind of protest you have not seen before and I am not afraid of anybody. This country belongs to all of us.
“Everything needed to revive this country is dependent on our electoral processes, once we don’t get that right, everything will continue to go wrong.
“I am for direct primary because democracy is supposed to be a government of the people by the people and for the people. Asking delegates to determine the faith of millions of people, is not democracy”.
A screengrab taken on October 12, 2021, shows some lawmakers during plenary in the Senate chamber of the National Assembly in Abuja.
The Senate has gone into a closed-door session a day after reports emerged that President Muhammadu Buhari had declined assent to the Electoral Amendment Bill.
A source told Channels Television that the lawmakers are discussing President Buhari’s letter to them in which he explained his refusal to sign the bill.
Senate President Ahmad Lawan is expected to read the President’s letter during the plenary session on Tuesday.
Talented Nigerian actor, Damola Olatunji has been allegedly detained at the Area P Police Command, Abesan, Iyana Ipaja area of Lagos State.
The Nollywood actor announced the development, in an SOS message sent out on Monday.
Olatunji in the message wrote, “They are detaining me at Area P, police station for standing up for the bike man.”
The popular actor had confronted a police officer for allegedly slapping his personal assistant at Abule Egba on Monday.
According to Olatunji, the issue with the police officers started after he asked them to release a motorcycle seized from a rider.
The actor during an Instagram live video could be seen accusing officers of the Nigerian police of extorting the public and “making life difficult for everyone.”
A police officer could be seen trying to hide his face from the camera as the actor recorded the incident, Olatunji, however, has deleted the video from his page.
Presidential Spokesman, Garba Shehu, has said that the fight against insurgency and banditry will be won with the use of drones and other technological equipment.
Speaking on Monday during an appearance on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), Shehu said the equipment will be provided by the Turkish government.
According to Shehu, some of the military support and equipment will be given free of charge to the country while others will be paid for by the Nigerian government.
He stated that this is one of the things discussed at the third edition of the Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit in Istanbul over the weekend.
Shehu asserted that Nigeria will be working with Turkey on the provision of military support by 2022, adding that the Turkish military will not be coming to Nigeria.
He said: “Turkey has gained a lot of respect globally in the last 10 years. As a military power, as a producer of military equipment, and as an influencer globally, Turkey’s role in Iraq and Syria was decisive in the defeat of ISIS. If Lybia induces a rate of stability today, it is the account of Turkey braving it and challenging the big powers there.
“In Azerbaijan, you saw what happened. We are not in any way thinking that Turkey’s military would be in the country. We are a very proud country and actually, this has not happened before and it is not likely to happen. But it is the technology that everyone is using to fight crime.
“The president of Turkey said ‘we will come along with you; we will support you’. So, going forward, we hope that as we are going into the new year in January, we will expect some establishment people from their defence so that we can now concretely sign onto what to do.
“We expect that they will give us military support and equipment that we may not have to pay for; some we will pay for. But we went to get Turkey to seek support, especially their technology in dealing with the situation of insecurity.
“The deployment of drones is the game-changer in other regions and Libya. It is the deployment of even phone technologies and ICT skills that most countries in the world are using to combat crimes. We are not doing much of that in this country, so we expect that we will make advances in that regard.”
THAT THERE MAY BE JUSTICE FOR KEREN AKPAGHER By Ambrose Omoregie
Last week, the Nigerian Police conducted an autopsy on the body of the Late Sylvester Omoroni of Dowen College. The body was thereafter released to the family for burial while the Police would continue with its investigation.
The autopsy was said to have been witnessed by the family of the deceased, families of the students accused of the act of bullying as well as the police and State Ministry of Health officials. Autopsy, as is known all over the world, is the first and most basic legal pointer in investigating cause of death.
Remarkably all the parties in the Omoroni case are maintaining a commendable level of maturity and keen determination to cooperate and support the police investigation and ensure that the rule of law is allowed to operate unhindered, even as each party wants justice served.
It would be recalled that the Late Sylvester Omoroni was a JSS 2 student of Dowen College who was alleged to have been bullied by some fellow students in what later led to the death of the youngster. Thanks to the video released by the Omoroni family, the whole nation was able to listen to the disclosure by Sylvester on how he was bullied. Public sentiments was built on, at least, a foundation of verifiable disclosure.
Sadly, there is another case- the case of Keren Akpagher, the late student of Premiere Academy, Abuja- which also is being investigated by the police but appears to have become, of late, an agenda for serving a purpose beyond seeking justice for the dead.
As in the Omoroni case, the police had conducted an autopsy in July on the corpse of Keren Akpagher in the presence of all the parties involved in the case. Customarily, the result of the autopsy would have been read to the parties while police would continue its investigation.
Thankfully, the BBC has done a story – https://bbc.com/pidgin/tori-59453675 – in which it featured a screenshot of the said autopsy report. The cause of death is there for all to see.
Though the police has not publicly released the autopsy report and full report of its investigation, the BBC report has helped the public with a sneak preview of the autopsy report.
In spite of this public knowledge, the mother of Keren Akpagher, edged on by a fledgling body known as the Coalition of Gender Based Violence Responders, has continued to canvas a claim not supported by any autopsy report in a move that appears geared towards rousing public anger against the school and the entire police investigation process.
The matter is being investigated by the Inspector General of Police, at the request of Keren’s mother who requested that the investigation be transferred from the FCT Police to the IGP. That request was granted. The school was not known to have opposed it. The IGP table is the highest echelon of the police system. That is where the case is currently. It is, therefore, baffling that the same person that requested investigation to be transferred to a specific head of an institution would not allow the investigation to run its course but would rather seek to truncate it.
Could there have been two separate autopsy done on the corpse of the late Keren Akpagher? Was there another autopsy report known only to the mother and not to the other parties to the case, including the police?
Keren Akpagher’s mother and the NGO promoting her case in the court of public opinion need to be more forthcoming. To date, they have not shown the world the autopsy report upon which their claim of Keren’s death derives from. They have not shown the world a single audio or video recording of Keren’s confession or disclosure to them before she died to back the outlandish claims being pushed in the media. The Akpagher family, it should be stated, does not fit the profile of a rustic, illiterate and unintelligent family that would not understand how vital it is to get a weighty disclosure such as rape of their only daughter down on tape, audio or video.
There is also another baffling question of why Keren’s mother and the NGO would choose to rouse the social media against the school in what appears as seeking to build enough army of angry, misinformed people that could be mobilized to get the school shut down and/or vandalized at all cost? Why choose public incitement against another party in a case you are involved and that is under investigation? What is the Law Court for?
Curiously, throughout the various activities and undertakings of the group, there has been no single call on the police to speed up its investigation or release its reports. If truly, the aim is to get justice for the departed, why is the group not talking of occupying the Police Headquarters? Or, putting pressure on the public to get the IGP to act faster in the matter? Why, instead, is the talk about occupying the properties and residences of the owners of the school and their other businesses?
On the contrary, why is it only the school that has been calling on the police to publicly release the autopsy and investigation reports? To date, the school said, between August and December, it wrote the Police three times, pleading for the public release of the autopsy report and report of investigation in the case.
Why has Keren’s mother not made this her first demand, in the true spirit of seeking justice?
Recent photos of Nigeria’s first lady, Aisha Buhari has sparked controversy on social media, as Nigerians claim she is expecting a child.
In one of the photos making the rounds on social media, Aisha was spotted alongside her husband, while being surrounded by security officials.
One of the security officials was carrying her handbag, as the first lady who rocked a yellow lace kaftan seemed pregnant.
She wore a black shawl draped over what appeared like a baby bump, which she placed her right hand on.
Another image showed the couple inside a plane. A zoom-in on Aisha’s physical look revealed a full face like that of a pregnant woman, different from her usual robust look.
Aisha Buhari has been away from the public for months. Before her daughter’s wedding in September 2020, she was out of the country for a couple of months and there were claims she had relocated to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
Bandit kingpin, Bello Turji has reportedly written a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari, the Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle and the Emir of Shinkafi.
According to Turji, he would like to meet with traditional and religious leaders in the country, adding that Islamic cleric, Ahmad Gumi, should be part of the meeting.
The bandit leader described Gumi as the one who understands bandits.
The letter which was shared by the bandit reads, “We are grateful to God who has given us this opportunity to bring this message to the Emir of Shinkafi, through the Governor of Zamfara state, Alh Mohammed Bello Matawalle (Braden Maradun) and to the President Mohammed Buhari.
“This is a letter (originally written in Hausa as seen below) from Mohammed Bello Turji Kachalla, the one we all know about.
“Having said that, I want the Emir of Shinkafi, the governor of Zamfara and the president, to look up to Allah and his Prophet.
“The purpose of this letter is as follows: 1. The killings of people going on which is not being publicised, the killings by bandits, herdsmen, kidnapping for ransom and even by security agents are our making. All these will come to an end by the grace of Allah. The government will have to play its part to ensure that this is achieved. As long as ethnicity and tribalism are eliminated, we need to all remain as one big family and forgive one another as Allah commands.
“2. Your highness, we would like to have a sit down with the traditional rulers in this country and also the religious leaders. If this is done, I Mohammed Bello Turji Kachalla, will make sure to disarm all my men and hand over all our arms to the government of Nigeria. As long as the government promises to take care of us the way it is taking care of the rest of the country and stop the stigmatisation of my people.
“3. Your highness, I want to assure you that we are not in contention with the government of Nigeria and we do not want any other country apart from this, we are not seeking the power of any kind, rather the ugly things we Fulanis are facing in this country have pushed us to react the way we do and made us want to defend ourselves to the detriment of the peace of the nation.
“4. Your highness, we are not thieves and we don’t mean to harm anyone. This letter is not borne out of deception and we would not want to be deceived.
“Everything should be done in transparency for Allah’s sake and the sake of the peace of our nation. So we can go back to the way we were in the past. We should all be law-abiding and allow the security agents to do their job and punish anyone found wanting. No form of arms would be seen with anyone except in the hands of the security agents as it’s supposed to be.
“5. Your highness, this is our last request. Just as we said earlier, we will like to make sure that all traditional rulers and all our Muslim leaders, most especially Sheikh Ahmad Abubakar Gumi, to be present at this meeting. This is because he is the only one who understands us and he has been paying us visits to sympathize with us. He has been preaching to us and we have seen the effectiveness of his messages in our lives. We only want the peaceful existence of everyone in this country.
“May Allah give us all the strength to keep these promises without fail.
“This letter is from Mohammed Bello Turji Kachalla.”
President Muhammadu Buhari will take a final decision on assenting to the Electoral Act 2010 (Amendment) Bill soon, the Presidency has said.
Naija News reports that presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, made this known on Sunday in an interview on a programme on Channels Television.
Shehu stated that even though the president has not made his decision known on the electoral bill, the Nigerian leader is conscious of his responsibilities.
He argued that President Buhari will consider the interest of Nigerians before signing the bill and has been duly advised on the advantages and disadvantages of his assent to the bill.
The presidential spokesman, therefore, said President Buhari will send a privileged communication to the National Assembly after signing the bill into law.
Shehu refused to confirm if the President will send the communication before Tuesday when the lawmakers would sit for the last time this year or after their recess in January.
He, however, said that Presidency will not want to offend the National Assembly if details of the communication were announced.
Shehu said, “What I can tell you is that the President is conscious of his responsibilities in this regard. He has been adequately briefed on the pros and the cons of such a signature and the implications for the nation.
“Is there a decision by Mr President as we speak? I cannot tell you…I don’t know because if the President decides upon completion of all his consultations, usually, he will be sending a privileged communication to the National Assembly. And once that communication is privileged, it is only received by the National Assembly and on the floors of the Senate and the House of Representatives, the Speaker or Senate President will read to members.
“My assumption is that when they come back, we probably will be hearing from them.”
The advertising industry in Nigeria: Maximising the post-COVID reality – Seyi Tinubu
Since the launch of the first news outlet in Nigeria in 1859, Nigeria’s advertising industry has grown to become a flourishing self-sustaining ecosystem valued at a whopping 425 million U.S. dollars as of 2017 and a projected foreseeable exponential growth in the coming years as a result of the dominance of internet revenue. While many other industries are gradually recovering and working to bounce back from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, this economic powerhouse is set to remain on an upward trajectory Post-covid.
Amidst several months of grounded airplanes, closed churches and empty streets, several countries and global economies have experienced the shock waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. From real estate to finance and healthcare – especially healthcare – almost every sector of the economy has been touched in one way or another. One industry, however, has remained unshaken, resilient, withstanding all the knocks and shocks and continuing to thrive despite oppositions – advertising.
This is not to say that commercial advertising did not experience its fair share of economic downturn, even taking a significant plunge during the pandemic year. In fact, many brands reordered their priorities entirely, choosing to engage in COVID-19 awareness campaigns across social media. Some others took to leveraging collaborations with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as well as the government to consolidate efforts and flatten the curve of COVID-19 spread, and provide relief packages to vulnerable target groups within the society – although, in hindsight, this may have been a strategic move to ensure that brands are projected positively continuously.
In any case, the advertising industry globally is fast rising back to pre-pandemic levels and even experiencing exponential growth— a vast contrast from the diminishing returns that it had begun to experience a few years back — and the reason is not far-fetched. Several factors are responsible for this drastic turn of events. Firstly, it goes without saying that advertising thrives on consumer behavior. And if there’s one thing we can be certain about post-pandemic, it’s that consumer behavior has changed significantly. What thriving and innovative advertising companies did during the pandemic was to change with the times and seasons that consumers were in. This meant changing from regular TV and radio advertising to digital advertising. This switch was to align with the fact that consumers spent more time at home in front of screens. Commuting time was allocated to binge-watching videos online, and as a result, digital reigned supreme.
Today, COVID-19 has definitely expedited the process of transforming legacy marketing structures and practices for the digital economy. In Nigeria especially, the pandemic served as an exponential accelerator for connected TV and E-commerce marketing- which though were already in place, were struggling to gain widespread popularity. By dwelling more on social media and direct response selling, retailers were able to sell their goods to a wider audience due to shifting consumer behavior to online trade channels, thereby promoting the growth of Nigeria’s e-commerce industry.
This wasn’t the case in the last decade. Just a few years back, advertisers in Nigeria spent a large chunk of their time, effort and resources trying to encourage consumers to buy something they haven’t seen or tried on. Brands across all industries struggled to use the power of their online presence to engage potential customers and drive them down the marketing funnel through video adverts, blogs, email newsletters, or other types of digital lead generation activities. Even before the pandemic, converting that online presence to actual sales was a difficult feat.
However, COVID-19 has drastically altered the rules of the game.
With the pandemic keeping everyone at home, time spent on convincing was less, and many more consumers became more inclined to buy things and use services they needed online. As a result, several mega-companies across Nigeria took advantage of this, leaving advertisers no choice but to keep up with the times, spending about $350 million on advertising and marketing. Whilst there was no dominant sector, the likes of telecommunications giant MTN and beverage colossus, Nigerian Breweries led the table as the highest spenders in the year.
The influencer niche is one area that has been cemented fully into the world of advertising. If there’s one thing that took the internet by storm in 2020, it was influencers. With the rise of social media, apps like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook (Now Meta) became entertainment hotspots for millennials and Gen Zs, more and more people rose to the influencer status, making the position crucial to Nigeria’s advertising industry. In fact, a survey carried out by the Nigeria Influencer Marketing Report (NIMReport) revealed that over 30% of advertisers now value influencer marketing as part of their marketing strategy.
Although we are no longer in the heat of the pandemic, it is incontrovertible that the pandemic brought a lasting shift to Nigeria’s advertising ecosphere. We may have coined the term “post-covid era”, but in actual fact, the pandemic has ushered us into a new age, a new season that we may never return from. This means that the bar has permanently risen for advertising agencies and businesses across Nigeria as consumers are now holding them to higher standards. What they demand nowadays are tactful and mindful marketing strategies. They’re no longer asking if you have what they want but rather expect you to have what they want.
To navigate this new terrain, advertising in Nigeria will need to be more data and technology focused, with advertisers working to integrate some form of artificial intelligence or machine learning into the mix. With the right data, advertising companies will be fully equipped to create the right consumer experiences across one or more dimensions of the four Cs of marketing: Commerce, Community, Content, and Convenience. Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach to these four areas, consumers require a more personalized experience.
Experts such as PWC have predicted that Nigeria’s entertainment market is poised to reach $10.8 billion (N4.4 trillion) in 2023, having reached $4.5 billion in 2018. With the interconnectedness of advertising and entertainment and the recent tactic of presenting advertising as entertainment, it is imperative that relevant stakeholders properly harness the immense benefits available for the advertising sector. This can be done in several ways, with collaboration being paramount. Partnerships between sectoral groups in marketing and communications will expand the advertising landscape of the Nigerian market and will bring world-class advertising opportunities and a broader reach to the target audience, clients and agencies. Advertisers Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), Media Independent Practitioners of Nigeria (MIPAN), Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), Broadcasting Organizations of Nigeria (BON) and other Industry leaders should consolidate their cooperations expertise on growth-focused activities that will cause the advertising industry to skyrocket in the coming years.
The pandemic has undoubtedly elevated the status of advertising and marketing, with both taking their rightful places as drivers of digital transformation, a key leader of the customer experience journey, and the voice of the consumer — all of which are of utmost importance to C-suite executives. This means that advertising now has the opportunity to seize an ongoing critical role in high-level dialogue and decision-making processes, thereby driving the company’s broader objectives and innovation agenda.
For brands willing to be creative and experimental with their advertising strategies, the post-COVID-19 reality is a unique moment to aim for higher market share.
Seyi Tinubu is a Nigerian entrepreneur. Seyi is the Chairman/CEO of Loatsad Promomedia and a member of the advertising practitioners council of Nigeria
