The Editorials

Oredola Adeola | The Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Enitan Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, on Saturday, September 28, 2019 appeared after observing the seven-day annual seclusion, communing with his ancestors and praying for the entire Yoruba race and the world at large. Recall that lle-Ife is the ancient Yoruba city in south-western part of Nigeria, located in present-day Osun State. The city is described as the epicentre of the world, and is seen as the cradle and ancestral land of the Yoruba speaking people. The annual Olojo festival is one of the festivals celebrated in Ife kingdom. It is a celebration of the deities and God( Eledumare), acknowledged as the owner of the day(Oni ojo). Oba Adeyeye at around 4pm, on Saturday, appeared in the public with Aare crown (king's Crown) the first and only royal beaded crown bequeathed on successive Oonirisa by Ogun, who was once an Oonirisa. The 4000 year old Aare Crown, is said to be the only physical symbol of authority i

The founder of SHILOH WORD CHAPEL,Abuja, Prophet I.O Samuel has called for intense prayers for the Nigerian Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, as intense pressure mount on him to resign his position over allegation of financial misappropriation linked to his office. During our short interview with him on his way back from his short trip to the United States of America, for his apostolic crusade;Prophet Samuel in a chat with pressmen expressed his revelation over recent reports in the Vanguard newspaper and Daily Independent about alleged misappropriation of. FIRS N90billion. In his usual simple style, he is of the opinion that there are clandestine moves to rubbish the credibility of the V.P. According to him, Osinbajo is a good man, but we all need to pray for him, so that God’s plan for him will come to pass” You will also recall that this same clergy was the one who gave prophecy in November 4th 2018; foretelling the VP helicopter crash; this was aired live, in his

Nigerian-born British singer- songwriter and composer Sade Adu's daughter, Izaak s completely transformed into a male. Her transgender ... He was taking male hormones for the past year, and has now taken the final step - penis surgery. Izaak Theo Adu, the female-to-male transgender son of musician Sade Adu has finally completed his transitioning after undergoing phalloplasty (a plastic surgery to construct a peen) after suffering from 'gender dysphoria'. The 20 year-old trans shared a picture of himself hugging his mom, shortly after returning home after the successful surgery. He captioned the picture: “It’s been a long hard road but We did it!! We are coming home!!!!. "Thank you for staying by my side these past 6 months Mumma. Thank you for fighting with me to complete the man I am. . "Thank you for your encouragement when things are hard, for the love you give me. The purest heart. I love you so much. Queen of queens #mumma #lioness #queen#iloveyou.”

Oredola Adeola | Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, on Friday met a delegation of the Christian Association of Nigeria, on the sideline of the controversy over an alleged mismanagement of N90 billion levelled against him. CAN however affirmed that the church will defend Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo in the N90 billion allegation levelled against him. Supo Ayokunle, CAN national president, made this known on Friday when he led a delegate of the association to visit Osinbajo. Recall that Mr. Timi Frank, a former deputy spokesperson of the All Progressives Congress (APC), had alleged that Osinbajo mismanaged N90 billion allegedly made available by the FIRS for 2019 election campaign purposes. But, the FIRS had denied the claim, saying it doesn’t have such funds. Speaking at the Christian Ecumenical Centre in Abuja, Ayokunle told journalists that the N90billion corruption allegation is not true. He said proponents of the claim should tender evidence or desist from tarnishing the imag

Segun Akande | Nigeria: Do what you can do best and outsource the rest – Peter Drucker (1909-2005), Father of modern management theory. OUTSOURCING, a word that came from the phrase: “outside resourcing”, became a key part of international business economics in the 1990s. Wikipedia defines it as” an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity that is or could be done internally and sometimes involves transferring employees and assets from one firm to another”. Sub-contracting is the practice of assigning or outsourcing specific parts of the obligations and tasks under a contract to another party known as a subcontractor. Outsourcing is prevalent in strong-matrix environments where complex project planning, execution and monitoring are norms. Business processes, people and projects are what companies seek to outsource. Outsourcing, as against the popular ugly perception, is not done to swindle middle-level managers

Shoremekun Saheed Ololade "...border closure by the Nigerian Government is likely to hamper the implementation of free trade movement within the region." - Moustapha Lo, ECOWAS Parliament Speaker. That quote came from a report, I read some days back. I reckoned in my mind: "Oh? So they want us to reopen the border benefiting the other countries in the region while we lose more to smuggling which is being aided in many respects by our counterparts." That 'blackmail' of "the closure hampering the African free trade agreement" mustn't not work with us going forward. If you check the world over, such collective agreements cause countries to practically lose sovereignty in some areas. That means, when implementation of parts of such agreements is ongoing, their negative impacts on the citizens, markets, sectors and the economies of the said countries will have to be overlooked (or not stopped) all in the name of "not wanting to go again

Oredola Adeola | Young entrepreneurs targeting business opportunities in the tourism, travels and allied services, have been exposed to available business opportunities within tourism industry. The opportunities were unveiled to participants who attended the Youth Tourism Conference 2019 edition of the 15th Akwaaba West African Travel Market, #Akwaaba2019, held on Tuesday at the Eko Hotels & Suites, Lagos, Nigeria. The special panel session, on the theme : " Is Tourism a sustainable business for the Youth?" anchored by Mrs. Wonuola Olatunde-Lamidi, cofounder, Diamonds and Pearls Travels Limited, paraded young and dynamic Chief Executive Officers(CEOs) who have carved niche for themselves in the travels, hospitality and tourism sector. The panelists agreed that most countries have not truly discovered tourism as main foreign currency generator and a mass job creator for the youth in Africa and other developing economies. Emphasis was placed on driving the touri

The Presidency has reacted to twitter troll criticising President Buhari's response to the question he was asked by a moderator on Monday September 23, 2019, alongside other world leaders at the United Nations Climate Action Summit 2019. In a statement released by Mr Femi Adesina, Special Assistant to the President on Media & Publicity, the President's media team disclosed that it has seen conversations on Twitter doing by getting things wrong and/or focusing on the wrong things, adding that completely missing the real/meaningful/actual message. In response to the troll, the President's media in the statement gave a backgrounder/explainer, focusing on Nigeria’s commitment to climate action, under the Buhari Administration. The statement said, "The Climate Action Summit was convened by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, to provide an opportunity for world leaders to, “come to New York on 23 September with concrete, realistic plans to enhance their nation

Oredola Adeola | The Cross River State Government is ready to host the maiden edition of the All African Musical Concert during the annual Calabar Carnival festival fondly tagged "Africa's Biggest Street Party",billed to commence from December 1st to December 31st. 2019. This was disclosed exclusively to Oredola Adeola, Surprise Africa, in a chat with Honourable Kenn Aklah, Senior Special Adviser, Governor's Office & Event Management, to Governor Ben Ayade of Cross River State, during the just concluded #Akwaaba2019, held at Eko Hotel & Suite , Lagos Nigeria. According to him, as part of the vision of making the Cross River State, Nigeria, the Tourism Capital of Africa, we have continued to develop tourism products that would make the carnival Calabar, more interesting to international and lo cal tourists attending the annual festival. He said, " Some of the products added to the festival this year , includes the maiden edition of the All African

Monday,September 23, 2019 is Queen of Nigerian gospel music, Princess Anne Inyang's birthday. The Gospel singer who is also a United Nation ambassador of peace, has nine albums to her credit, which are available on iTunes, Spotify and several online music stores. Some of her popular songs were “ A Lord God Cannot Lie”, “Awesome God Floodgates”, “Yesu Uni wangu”, “Power In the word of God”, “Love is the Greatest Gift”, “All the Way with Jesus”, “Highly Favoure” and “ Nyafun Nyafun.” The “Akanankwe” song is one of the most common praise music in most Nigerian churches The song is a blessing to many and has brought joy to millions of fans across the world. At Surprise Africa, we celebrate Amb Anne Inyang and pray for more grace to make 100 year.

The 15th edition of the West Africa’s biggest tourism expo, Akwaaba, African Travel Market has commenced with the Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda Day & Jollof Rice War. The Travel Market which started on Sunday, September, 22, 2019 at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, will end on Tuesday, September 24, 2019. AKWAABA Africa Travel Market has been the major international and largest marketing platform to meet with airlines, Travel Agents, Hotels, Tourism boards both foreign and local, the media and general travelling public in West Africa. Akwaaba Travel Market has grown to become the most important travel marketing platform in the region drawing attendance from over 7,000 to 10,000 Visitors from 20 Countries. It is a 3-day business to business event presenting a diverse range of destinations to Africa and international travel professionals, it is a unique opportunity for African travel trade market to meet, negotiate, network and conduct businesses with top players i

The Federal Government has proposed N100 billion for the implementation of the National Livestock Transformation Plan. The proposal was submitted on Thursday to the National Economic Council by its Sub-Committee on Farmers/Herders’ crisis. The NEC meeting was presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Dave Umahi, Ebonyi State Governor and Chairman of the sub-committee, made the presentation to NEC. According to him, the NLTP is not about cows alone but had three planks, including care for persons displaced by farmers/herders’ crisis and education programmes. Also, states are free to use any animals of their choice in implementing the programme. The Governor said the committee proposed that the Federal Government would bear 80 per cent of the N100bn, while participating states would support with the balance of N20bn and land for the programme. He added that the programme remained voluntary and would accommodate only states that expressed partic

Oredola Adeola | Andela is leaving behind its core vision of developing talents into a full outsourcing firm to hire experienced and more senior developers for big companies. Consequently, the tech firm has laid off more than 400 engineers from its Nigeria, Uganda, and Kenya hubs. The tech incubator established in 2014 in Nigeria, used to develop programmers from all over the continent with top-notch computer-science instruction, with a vision to train 100,000 young people across Africa over the next 10 years. It has now abandoned that to focus on other profitable venture. In a statement released to the media, Andela said, " the restructure affected approximately 250 junior engineers and staff from its Nigeria and Uganda hubs with another 170 potentially impacted in Kenya. The tech giant incubator disclosed that its model was not sustaining as companies and organisations want more senior developers than the junior ones. It added that the company is partnering with CcHUB

At least 27 people, many of them children, are now confirmed to have died in the fire at a Bassa Town Quranic Recitation Center school in Liberia overnight. The fire broke out late on Tuesday night, when Koranic school students were sleeping in a building near their mosque, located in the Paynesville suburb of the capital, Monrovia. Most of the victims according to Emergency services 10 years old and above.Two teachers are also among the dead. While two survivors were taken to a local hospital and remain in a critical condition. Police have told the BBC they are still looking for bodies in the building. Police spokesman Moses Carter told Reuters news agency that the fire was caused by an electrical problem, but investigations are continuing. In a tweet, President George Weah said a "deadly fire had engulfed their school building" in Paynesville and expressed his "deepest condolences". "My prayers go out to the families of the children," he said.

Moustapha Lo, speaker of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) parliament has warned that the border closure by the Nigerian Government is likely to hamper the implementation of free trade movement within the region. The ECOWAS Parliamentarian made this statement on Tuesday, while addressing parliamentarians at the ongoing 2nd extraordinary session of the ECOWAS parliament in Monrovia. Recall that the Nigerian government had closed its borders since August as a measure put in place to ensure proper procedure for in and outflow of people and goods. The government also wants neighbours to agree with the protocols of transit routes.” The Speaker charged the government to reopen its borders and to find a permanent solution to the challenge of smuggling. Lo further noted that the closure happened at a time when Africa was working to intensify efforts for the effective abolition of barriers within the member-states. The ECOWAS parliament said the closure is a hindr

Oredola Adeola | Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) has lined up top Ugandan Tour Operators and tourism experts for the promotion and marketing of its top tourist attractions to Nigerian travel Trade and travelers at the 15th Akwaaba, African Travel Market 2019. The rich pristine nature, cultural and historical African religious heritage will be the focus of discussion by the experts at the "Uganda Day" on Sunday, September 22, being the Day 1 of the three(3) days , African Travel market, scheduled to hold at Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos, Nigeria. Godfrey Kiwanda, State Minister for Tourism for Uganda. Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa whose diverse landscape straddles the equator with Lake Victoria (2nd largest lake in the world) forming part of its southern border. It is from the same lake that River Nile, the world longest river, starts its (4,258 miles)journey at Jinja 80km east Kampala. According to statement from Uganda Tourism Board: "Very

Semilore Adeoye, a pupil of Springforth School, Lagos, has emerged as Winner of the 6334Plus Summer Reading Competition held on Friday 6th, 2019 at the Eternal King School, Amje , Alagbado, Lagos, thereby making her the first Ambassador of 6334Plus. The winner won a school bag and Testerjay's Scholarship for first Ambassador (Part Payment of school fee). 6334Plus is the brainchild of Testerjay UK Enterprise, United Kingdom( UK) based firm owned by a Nigerian. The Readers' Club is part of 6334plus' educational intervention programmes and support services specifically focused on improving the quality of academic offerings in Nigeria. At the Summer reading competition which was the inaugural event of the club, the winner, Semilore scored 13 points, while Okereke Delight from B-Gold School and Adebowale Nimota, from Ummul Khair School, both emerged as 1st Runner-Up. They both won school bags and Testerjay's prize for second. Olaiya Daniel,from Great Prestige School, M