Oba Akiolu Wonder, Says, “I Greeted Ooni of Ife The Lagos Style”

The Oba of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu will surely not cease from surprising Nigerians with his crude and bizarre lifestyles, the Lagos monarch has cleared the air on the viral video of his snobbish behavior on the social media saying, it is only being misconstrued and that there’s nothing wrong in the way he has snubbed the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, at a public function in Lagos. Rather, Oba Akiolu said his gesture to the Ooni was the culturally acclaimed way of greeting a monarch in Lagos.

The position of Oba Akiolu was stated by one of the white cap chiefs of Lagos, Lateef Aderibigbe Ajose, who is the Opeluwa Onido of Lagos. Ajose said the Lagos monarch did not ignore Ooni of Ife at the public function as being misconceived by people. He said Oba Akiolu’s response to Oba Ogunwusi was the culturally acclaimed way of greeting by a monarch in Lagos.

For those who have not seeing the trending video, this is it

He added that the Lagos King is basically trying to revive the culture and tradition of ancient Lagos, which is peculiar to the State. Other tribes also have their peculiar ways of greeting, he said.
Ajose stated: “The sign by Oba Akiolu signifies ‘inu mi, inu e’, the culture of greeting in Lagos.
“If Oba Akiolu wanted to ignore, he would have turned his face away from Ooni.
“There is no misunderstanding between both highly revered monarchs in Yorubaland.”
According to Ajose, the relationship between both Yoruba kings is peaceful and mutual.
He said: “Oba Akiolu was well represented at the coronation of Ooni of Ife, which attested to the fact that he does not disregard the office of Ooni Adeyeye.”
Chief Ajose said Oba Akiolu had waited till this time to react to the issue because he had to meet with other chiefs in the palace to rub minds before addressing the public on the matter. He said: “There is no sentiment in the culture of Lagos.
“As we met it, that is the way we are doing it.
“Kabiyesi Oba Akiolu is trying to bring back the old pattern, the old culture we have left behind. “What happened that day was wrongly speculated by the social media to disrupt peace and order and misinterpret Oba Akiolu’s action.
“We just want to appeal to the social media to stop spreading wrong information.
“They should try and understand the reason behind every action carried out, most especially by traditional rulers. “Yoruba has a very rich culture.
“There is no quarrel between the Oba of Lagos and Ooni of Ife.”

How Bode Akinboye’s Magic Wand Boosts SA Insurance’ Profiles

He’s no doubt one of Nigeria’s dynamic boardroom colossi whose impressive track records in the tactically technical insurance industry is second to none. That’s Bode Akinboye for you. Notwithstanding the pervasive harsh economic situation under which businesses have been operating in the country with most companies resorting to taking some\= drastic decisions to remain in business, National Enquirer can conveniently report that Standard Alliance Insurance Plc is instead raising its head tall in all directions. This is courtesy of the refreshing business tactics being brought to bear by the new Board and Management under the Chairman, Mr. Johnson Egwu, an accomplished banker and financial analyst and the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bode Akinboye, a longstanding insurance practitioner, respectively.

The new Board and Management came in, January 2015 after a new investor, Gemrock Management Company Limited, acquired strategic stakes in the underwriting company in December 2014.

Upon assumption of roles, the new Board and Management were saddled with the mandate to, among others, “evolve the company into a composite underwriter, aggressively grow its market-share, run a more responsive claims administration policy, sustain profitability and dividend returns to shareholders and to make the organization a more exciting place to its varied publics to partner with.

Checks by this office show that the Board and Management are delivering on all goals. Records show that most of the basic regulatory approvals needed to perfect the merger of both Standard Alliance Insurance Plc and Standard Alliance Life Assurance Limited to form a composite company have been achieved. This was after the companies’ shareholders gave their nods to the board to go ahead with the merger plans. At the moment, the two companies are functioning as one with the objective of, among others, reducing administrative cost, raising customer satisfaction level and returning the company to the full path of profitability.

Apart from achieving the above and increasing its market share, the company has been deliberate about matters relating to claims settlement. Upon resumption in January, 2015, the new Board and Management inherited large amount of unpaid claims with the company returning losses for close to six years.

Despite the obvious harsh economic situation, the new team took this claims challenge up with all boldness to create the required trust that will engender continued patronage and to grow its market share. Accordingly, the company paid a consolidated claim amounting to N2,089,400,000.00  and N1,531,927,000.00 as at the end of 2015 and 2016 respectively. A total consolidated claim of N400,762,331.04 has already been paid out to genuine claimants during the first quarter of this year. As it defrays the inherited claims, the company made it a mandatory policy to settle any fresh claims reported along the line from January, 2015.

When contacted, the CEO, Mr. Bode Akinboye, admitted that “we are not fully where we want to be on claims payment yet. When the new Management headed by me resumed duties in January, 2015, we were faced with the huge arrears of unpaid claims we inherited. The company was almost losing its stability on all fronts. However, the board which is made up of accomplished young professionals were undaunted by the size of the challenge as it was determined to change the story for the company. We knew we had a good brand that was once the toast of investors before 2009 ending.  And true to our belief, the story is different today as we have paid a very substantial part of the legacy claims. Trust is now returning as we deliver on promises. It was not surprising, therefore, that the company was recently rated BBB by the South African-based Global Credit Rating in recognition of the company’s consistent claims paying ability. So, on behalf of the Management, I can assure the remaining genuine affected policyholders that in the next few months, we would have taken care of their own.”

In response to other questions he was asked to clarify during our phone chat with him, the CEO, Mr. Akinboye, explained the value which the new Management team under his leadership places on the company’s human capital strength, noting that without them, the company would not have returned to its former profitability status. According to him, “despite the unbearable economic situation which has negatively impacted on business operations in the country, we at Standard Alliance Insurance Plc have not retrenched or sacked a single staff. We increased the salary package and also promoted some deserving staff to various levels of responsibility and moved some others to other departments where they will be of much strategic value to the company. Some have also left us for greener opportunities. We cannot stop such work mobility. But I can tell you that though we miss them and wish them well, their exit has not in any way affected our market share and income as we have other able hands that have perfectly and suitably filled their gaps. Our 2017 first quarter performance shows that we have even outperformed our 2016 first quarter results and we intend to sustain this trend.”

According to him, “we will continue to invest on deserving staff and strive to provide the needed enabling work environment for everyone to excel at Standard Alliance. Our ultimate goal is to return the company to its former pride of place which it was before six years ago to those looking for where to invest in and where to work at. I can assure you that we are almost back there.”

Sports Veteran, Taye Ige’s $Mulitimillion Multimedia Mega Studio In Lagos Ready

Chairman/CEO of HS Media Group, Taye Ige, has declared the readiness of his media production outfit to host and produce big media entertainment events such as The voice Nigeria and the Coke Studio in Nigeria.

While commenting on his mega studio projects which industry experts have described as the largest in Africa, the communication whizkid said “HS Media Group is set to start a revolution in television production in Nigeria soon. He said the same kind of revolution experienced when the mobile telephone was launched in 2001 would be the same thing for television production when digitization is launched in Nigeria.

According to the veteran sports marketer, the HS Media Complex is a television studio/production complex, situated at the heart of Ikeja, the capital of Lagos State, some 20 minutes from the Murtala Mohammed International Airport and standing on just a little over two acres of land.

“There are five television production studios in the complex, the largest being 900 square-metre adjoined by two others which are 175 square metres each, and then there are two other ones that we call presentation studios, and they are 55 square metre each. So, whether the 900 square-metre studio qualifies as the biggest in Africa is what I do not know.

Ige said he” conceived the idea of an extra-large studio from a project I was involved in years ago with Guinness. They had what was called “Guinness the Match”, that involved simulation of a football pitch right inside a television studio. We looked everywhere from Lagos to Ogun, even as far as Ibadan and Osun State, and we could not find a suitable studio, until we had to settle for what was the biggest then, which is the LTV 8 studio.

With that experience at the back of his mind, when the opportunity came to build a studio of his own, “I thought, the only thing one can bring into the market that will make HS Media stand out is that size. I actually wanted a 1200 or 1300 square metre size, but superior reasoning around me thought otherwise, and said that it would be difficult to maintain good occupancy all year round and that we would be lucky to even gross 20% occupancy with that volume. We were told that we could do something smaller but still big enough to accommodate the most ambitious of productions and equipped with modern day gadgetry; and create illusion of an even bigger space. For instance, with cameras fixed with appropriate zoom lenses, you can actually create a 1,800sq.m space in a 900 square environment. But you know, money is the name of the game. For instance, some of those lenses are more expensive than the cameras themselves. So, that was why we were able to conclude at 900 square metre and create two other studios of 175 square-metre each.

He said the HS Media mega studio project will restore Nigeria’s pride and save the nation the embarrassment it has suffered in recent times when projects like big time reality shows that were supposed to be hosted and produced in Nigeria such as The Voice Nigeria and others were taken to Johannesburg, South Africa.

He said Coke Studio, despite the fact that it was dominated by Nigeria’ musical stars was taken to Nairobi, Kenya, all because of facilities. “The main reason cited by production houses for taking these shows abroad is lack of the requisite facilities and expertise. The facilities needed are the kind of things we are trying to provide here at HS Media Studios. For instance, when fully completed, you can build any reality show and house the inmates in our Studio One. And you know when digitization comes, that is when the boom will come from production, and that is what we are positioning for.

Taye Ige revealed that with the studios are in various stages of completion and the completed ones are busy 24/7. “First, we have our programmes. We have HotSports, which has run for close to two decades, and it is still running. We are producing it every week. We have ‘UAC Unscripted’, the wave-making celebrity family game show, sponsored by Nigeria’s biggest indigenous conglomerate, UACN Plc. We have our radio programmes and we have audio booths supporting the completed studio. According to him, “far more importantly is that every weekend, from Friday to Sunday, we are locked down on StarTimes. We produce six live matches every weekend, for StarTimes. Matches of the Bundesliga, i.e the German League, the Italian Serie A, the French League 1 and matches of the Russia 2018 European World Cup Qualifiers. These matches are produced live on World Football Channel on StarTimes.

Wale Ojora Eyes Lagos Island LG Chairman Seat

Apparently disturbed by the lackluster developments in the Lagos Island local government areas, Prince Wale Ojora has taken the bull by the horn to vie for the chairmanship position of the council in the forthcoming local council elections.
This is as a result of his conviction that he has got what it takes to take the council area to the next level that will be in conformity with his party’s manifestoes and aspiration of change.

Speaking recently with journalists, the former council secretary explained that he was persuaded by various political interest groups in the area who have severally lobbied him to come out and vie for the position and perhaps make him the only candidate to beat at the moment.

In his view, Lagos Island needs to be brought back to its old glory where virtually all the blue-chip companies used to have their headquarters either on Marina or Broad street, saying ‘it is disheartening that almost all the companies now prefer Victoria Isalnd, Lekki or Ikoyi, we must find a way to bring those companies back because the problems are being resolved by the present state governor’

Ojora who presently oversees the Lagos State Enforcement Training Institute (LETI) claimed to be the appropriate candidate for the post, having been a councilor and council secretary in the past and equally well educated to take the challenge of leadership.

According to him, the local government urgently need to fix all the primary health centers and the primary schools to give a decent life to the residents who may not afford the luxury of private consultations.

On his confidence to clinch the ticket of his party, All Progressive Congress, Ojora opined that APC is a party of democrats that will give a level playing ground to all aspirants and because of this, he is assured that he is the man the party will put forward to contest the election.

GTBank Hosts 2017 Food and Drink Fair On Workers’ Day

Food lovers from across the world can once again look forward to an unparalleled culinary experience as the 2^nd edition of the GTBank Food & Drink Fair is set to hold during the Worker’s Day holiday on Sunday the 30^th of April and Monday the 1st of May, 2017. The 2-day event will treat attendees to enthralling gastronomic tours across a wide variety of exciting cuisines and delicacies while offering small businesses in the Nigerian Food Industry a free and vibrant platform to connect with a wider segment of their target markets as well as experts in their business fields. 

The GTBank Food and Drink Fair was created by foremost African Financial Institution, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, as part of its efforts to empower small businesses. The 2016 debut of the consumer-focused event received very positive reviews nationally and internationally, had over 90 exhibitors from the food sector and attracted over 25,000 guests over the 2-day period. It was followed by the first edition of The GTBank Fashion Weekend, held in November 2016, which achieved a similar impact in the SME segment of the Nigerian fashion industry and featured over 100 exhibitors and about 30,000 guests. 

The GTBank Food and Drink Fair, which is free to attend, will expand on the favourite features of the previous event, such as Cooking MasterClasses and Sales Exhibitions by small businesses, whilst providing new and exciting features such as a Farmers’ Market, where SMEs involved in agriculture will showcase and sell fresh and organic farm products, and a Baking Masterclass for children kids. There will also be a diverse range of restaurants offering mouth-watering dishes, outdoor grills and thrilling entertainment as well as savoury Wine tastings to enable attendees experience an exciting and eclectic mix of undiscovered brands and household names alike.

Commenting on the GTBank Food & Drink Fair, Mr Segun Agbaje, the Managing Director of Guaranty Trust Bank plc, said; “We are delighted to return with the 2nd edition of the GTBank Food and Drink Fair. This year, we are raising the bar on the scope and features of the event to deliver an exquisite experience of Nigeria’s diverse culinary mosaic to our customers, the general public and food enthusiasts from around the world. He further stated that, “With the successes of the first editions of the Food and Drink Fair and Fashion Weekend events, we are encouraged to do more; connecting businesses to consumers, creating new markets and business opportunities for our customers.

GTBank has consistently played a leading role in Africa’s banking industry. The GTBank brand is regarded by industry watchers as one of the best run financial institutions across its subsidiary countries and serves as a role model within the financial service industry due to its bias for world class corporate governance standards, excellent service quality and innovation. The Bank is also going beyond the traditional understanding of Corporate Social Responsibility as corporate philanthropy by intervening in key economic sectors to strengthen small businesses through non-profit consumer focused fairs and capacity building initiatives that serve to boost their expertise, exposure and business growth.

Saleh Dunoma Gets Presidential Nod As FAAN’s Substantial Honcho.

The Federal Government of Nigeria has confirmed Engineer Saleh Dunoma as the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria.

According to the agency’s Acting General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, the appointment was ratified by the Presidency in a statement released on Thursday 20th April, 2017.

A recipient of the highly coveted National Productivity Order of Merit Award (NPOM), Engr. Saleh had contributed immensely to the growth and development of aviation in Nigeria and beyond.

Prior to his appointment as the MD, he was the director in charge of projects in the Authority and his wealth of experience was very instrumental to the success of the Airport Remodeling project of the Federal Government, under which all 22 airports being managed by FAAN were remodeled, according to existing international standards.

He is currently the African Regional President of Airport Council International (ACI), a body overseeing the safety and security of airports globally. Engr Dunoma is the first Nigerian to be so elected to occupy the office.