‘PositiveNaija Series 2017: Convocation of Green Eagles’ Published

Towards an objective, verifiable, refreshing and valuable sense of Nigerian patriotism, nation building and impactful scholarship, the PositiveNaija Series 2017: Convocation of Green Eagles has been published.

PositiveNaija Series 2017

Authored and published (in March 2018) by Toju Micheal Ogbe, the first of its kind book is a historic and educational resource, which reliably informs the world of the positive excellence of Nigeria and Nigerians globally for the year 2017. In addition, it features the best 9 essays of the 2017 PositiveNaija Essay Competition with the overall best essay of the Competition by Mr. Olawale Lekan Christopher being the Foreword of the Series.

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Elah Ajene & Prosper Okarike Win DStv Eutelsat Star Awards 2017

MultiChoice Nigeria has named Elah Ajene of Nigeria Tulip International College, Abuja, and Prosper Okarike of Graceland International School, Port Harcourt, as in-country winners of the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards competition for 2017.

Elah Ajene emerged winner in the essay category, while Prosper Okarike emerged winner in the poster category. The awards are part of efforts by MultiChoice to promote science and technology education in Nigeria. The winners were announced after a two-day adjudication process.

The Managing Director, MultiChoice Nigeria, John Ugbe, said the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards are designed to identify and create awareness on satellite technology and its applications within the society. And that the award is meant to inspire innovative thinking among secondary school students in Africa to create awareness on how science and technology can be applied to everyday life and to showcase the many ways that satellites already impact on the development of the African continent.

In his words:

“MultiChoice, by this award, is encouraging the young ones to challenge themselves and come up with ideas and innovation that will eventually propel our country to desired greatness.”

Dr. Aderonke Bello, CEO Innovative Technology Literacy Services Limited (ITLSL) and lead judge for the 2017 DStv Eutelsat Star Awards, stated that there were many quality entries, but the ones that made it to the top were those that satisfied all the specified criteria, which were understanding and demonstration of satellite technology and its application to everyday life, coherence in the manner of presentation and flow.

The annual awards, which received a total of 213 entries, including 187 essays and 26 posters this year, takes the form of a competition open to students between the ages of 14-19 years old.

The award was established in 2011 by MultiChoice Africa in collaboration with Eutelsat, leading satellite operator for broadcasting, broadband, and data services.

Team Nigeria Wins 24 Medals At 2018 Commonwealth Games

Team Nigeria finished the 2018 Commonwealth Games, in Gold Coast, Australia in ninth place with a total of 24 medals which included nine gold, nine silver and six bronze. The 2018 Commonwealth Games was held between April 4 to April 15, 2018.

Track and field athlete Blessing Okagbare was Nigeria’s flag bearer during the opening ceremony.

Nigeria’s Winners at the 2018 Commonwealth Games

Tennis

Aruna Quadri won a silver medal for Team Nigeria in the tables tennis event after he lost 4-2 to Ning Gao of Singapore in the final match.

The Indians defeated Team Nigeria in the final both, Segun Toriola and teammates won a silver medal for their efforts.

Faith Obazuaye won a silver after a 6-10 loss to Australia’s Melissa Tapper in the women’s para table tennis final event.

Faith Obazuaye won Team Nigeria a silver medal after a 3-1 loss to Australia’s Melissa Tapper in the women’s TT6-10 TableTennis event.

Athletics

Tobi Amusan  won gold medal for Nigeria in the 110m hurdles event, as she finished with a time of 12.68s. Amusan also made history as she became the first Nigerian female hurdler to win gold at the Games.

Suwaibidu Galadima won a gold medal for Nigeria in the men’s T47 100m Final as he finished with a time of 11.04s.

4x400m relay team of Patience Okon-George, Glory Nathaniel, Praise Idamadudu and Yinka Ajayi won a silver medal for Nigeria with a time of 3m:25.29s

4x100m relay team of Udo Gabriel, Blessing Okagbare, Tobi Amusan and Rosemary Chukwuma won a bronze medal for team Nigeria with a time of 42.75s.

Boxing & Wrestling

Yetunde Odunuga won a bronze medal for team Nigeria in the women’s 60kg boxing event after her quarterfinal victory over Canada’s Caroline Veyre.

Milicent Agboegbulem also won a bronze medal for Nigeria in the women’s 75kg boxing event after she defeated Kenya’s Elizabeth Andiego  in their quarterfinal encounter.

Odunayo Adekuoroye was victorious for Nigeria in the women’s 57kg wrestling freestyle event, as she defeated India’s of the Pooja Dhanda in the final.

Blessing Oborodudu defeated Canada’s Danielle Lappage in the women’s 68kg wrestling freestyle event.

Amas Daniel wins gold in wrestling Men’s Freestyle 65 kg event after he defeated Canada’s Vincent De Marinis  3-1 on points

Ebikewenimo Welson defeated South Africa’s Jan Combrinck to win a bronze medal in Men’s Freestyle 57 kg wrestling event.

Bose Samuel defeated Sri Lanka’s Deepika Mudiyanselage to win another bronze in the Women’s Freestyle 53 kg Nordic System.

Blessing Onyebuchi won silver medal in Women’s Freestyle 76 kg event after defeating India’s Kiran.

Powerlifting

Roland Ezuruike beat his compatriot with a total point of 224.3, Paul Kehinde (219.9 points) to win gold in the powerlifting event which added a gold and silver to Nigeria medal haul.

Ezuruike became the first Nigerian to claim a gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Abdulazeez Ibrahim also won gold for Nigeria with a total point of 191.9.

In the female category, Esther Oyema amassed 141.6 to beat compatriot Esther Ejike who had 134.1 to add a gold and silver to Nigeria’s medal haul. With her feat, Esther Oyema created a new world record.

Ndidi Nwosu won Nigeria another gold medal in the powerlifting heavyweight category with a total of 110.4 points.

Shot Put

Shot putter Chukwuebuka Enekwechi won Nigeria’s first medal (silver) in the athletics event with a throw of 21.14 which is his personal best.

Reward for Nigerian Winners at the 2018 Commonwealth Games

The Federal Government of Nigeria through the Ministry of Sports presented cash awards to medalists at the XXI Commonwealth games in Gold Coast, Australia.

Gold medalists got $5,000, silver winners received $3,000 while bronze medalists were rewarded with $2,000 for their efforts.

The brief ceremony was supervised by the Minister of Youth and Sports, Barrister Solomon Dalung while presentations were made by the former Head of state and FG leader of delegation to the games, General Yakubu Gowon (rtd) alongside Nigeria Olympic Committee President, Engineer Habu Gumel.

President of Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Honorable Daniel Igali presented a cash reward of $1,000 dollar each to all gold medalists in addition to the Federal Government cash.

Winners Of 2018 Pan African Re/Insurance Journalism Awards

Odimegwu Onwuwere of Nigeria’s Africa Prime News has won the Pan African Journalist of the Year Award for the 2018 Pan African Re/Insurance Journalism Awards sponsored by Continental Reinsurance.

With three categories of the 2018 Pan African Re/Insurance Journalism Awards, Odimegwu Onwumere emerged the overall winner.

Onwumere’s winning article titled, ‘Africa emerging new frontier in the reinsurance markets’ investigates how foreign insurers that once rebuked Africa due to economic instability are now swarming for businesses on the continent because the sector is becoming alluring and dynamic due to unswerving GDP growth.

Otiato Guguyu, a Business and Data Journalist with Standard Group Kenya won the Best Re/Insurance Industry Feature Article for his story, ‘Business of protecting wealth from drought’ that talks about how an insurance scheme that was introduced in the dry regions of Kenya is cushioning farmers from losses; while Adenike Popoola, Chief Correspondent of Nigeria’s The Punch newspaper emerged the winner for Best Re/Insurance Industry Analysis and Commentary for her article, ‘Foreigners taking over Nigerian insurance industry’, which discusses how the recapitalisation trend is transforming the insurance industry and its expectations in the future.

At the same time, Gareth Stokes, a financial journalist working with Commercial Risk Africa (CRA) in South Africa won a special award in recognition of his exemplary contribution to Re/ Insurance journalism and was recommended to become a judge in future editions. Gareth emerged the Pan African Journalist of the Year in 2017 awards.

The winners were announced at a Gala dinner held during Continental Reinsurance’s CEO Summit held on April 9th 2018 in Swakopmund, Namibia.

According to Dr. Femi Oyetunji, Continental Reinsurance’s Group Managing Director:

“The Pan-African Re/Insurance Journalism Awards are an extension of our continued commitment to advance excellence in the sector. I am glad this year’s entries not only improved in quality, but they also came from a wider range of countries, and with more diverse insurance topics being featured by journalists.

We will be including two new categories in next year’s Awards – for broadcast and online entries, and I would like to encourage TV, radio and online journalists to participate.”

The winners will win a combination of financial and practical training prizes. The overall winner will also win a fully-paid trip to attend CRA’s training in London, UK including a one-week internship.

The third edition of the journalism awards received 61 entrants from 15 English and French speaking countries including: Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Ghana, Namibia, Mauritius and Zambia for Anglophones; Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Senegal, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo and Togo for Francophones.

The entries were assessed and evaluated by an independent panel of judges, which comprised five insurance and business media experts: Nadia Mensah Acogny, Journalist, Forbes Afrique; Tony van Niekerk, Editor, Cover Publications; Afif Ben Yedder, Founder, IC Publications; Michael Wilson, Business and Finance Journalist and Kenneth Igbomor, Market News Editor (West Africa), CNBC Africa.

According to Nadia Mensah Acogny, Chairperson of the 2018 Judging Panel:

“I have had the honour of being a judge for two consecutive years, and I would like to note that the quality of entries has significantly improved. There were also more contenders for the top scores than there were last year, which is encouraging progress.

There are many excellent francophone journalists on the continent, who should rise and compete with their fellow business journalists by participating in these awards. I would like to encourage French writers to submit their entries for the 2019 awards.”

Continental Reinsurance initiated the Pan African Re/Insurance Journalism Awards in 2015 to recognise and acknowledge the good work of media on the continent. Journalists are required to demonstrate how their articles raised awareness and understanding of the re/insurance sector in Africa.

Fola Tayo Appointed Into WHO Cancer Medicine Advisory Group [2018]

Professor Fola Tayo has been appointed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to serve on its Cancer Medicine Advisory Group for the availability and affordability of cancer medicines.

Professor Fola Tayo, who is the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman, Governing Council of Caleb University, Imota, Lagos, is among the 14 eminent people and the only West African appointed across the globe to serve on the group.

Mr. Elvis Otobo, the Head, Media and Public Relations Officer, Caleb University, said in a statement that the advisory group was made up of core professionals.

He noted that other members were from Australia, Canada, South Africa, Egypt, South Korea, Malaysia, Suriname, Malawi, Thailand, UK, Austria, Jordan and India.

Professor Fola Tayo has also been appointed to serve as the Protem Chairman of the Committee of Pro-Chancellors of Private Universities in Nigeria.

Until his appointment, he has been a very active member of the committee and made many useful contributions to the growth and development of the body in particular, and Nigeria Universities in general.

WHO’s Cancer Medicine Advisory Group is set up to define the problems relating to availability and accessibility of cancer medicines and seek expert’s advice on the scope of the report, analytical feasibility and case studies.

It is also to seek expert advice on the benefits and consequences of various pricing approaches for cancer medicines, options for improving availability and affordability of cancer medicines.

The group will brainstorm on three key projects for three days when they meet in Switzerland according to an Agenda Review released by the WHO.

These include project inception, problem definition and scope of reports; Pricing and impacts of pricing approaches and Options to improve availability, affordability and transparency of cancer medicines.

Publiseer Joins International Publishing Distribution Association (IPDA) [2018]

Publiseer has become the first African publishing company to join the International Publishing Distribution Association (IPDA), an international umbrella organization for companies in the field of publishing distribution.

As part of its membership, the founders of Publiseer, Chidi and Chika Nwaogu, will be attending the 5th International Digital Distributors Meeting organized by IPDA, scheduled to hold on the 6th and 7th of June 2018 in Madrid, Spain.

The meeting will focus on issues like, “new business models in the publishing distribution sector”, “worldwide growth of self-publishing”, and “publishing and distribution of hypermedia content”.

Some notable companies already in the International Publishing Distribution Association (IPDA) are Bookwire (Germany), BookRepublic (Italy), Vearsa (Ireland), DeMarque (Canada), Overdrive (USA), Numilog (France), Cyberlibris (France), Hipertexto (Colombia), Netizen (México), PocketBook (Switzerland),Tolino Media (Germany), Books on Demand (Germany), Trajectory (USA), StreetLib (Italy), Libreka (Germany), ArtaTech (Poland), Ingram (USA), Publit (Sweden), Viz Media (Japan), GiantChair (USA), Nextory (Sweden), CB (The Netherlands), and Izneo (France).

Publiseer is a digital publishing company in Nigeria, focused on distributing the books and songs of independent Nigerian writers and musicians. The mission of the company is to promote the creativity of Nigerians to the rest of the world.

The publishing platform has announced it will commence print-book publishing and distribution of physical music CDs. It has also launched ‘Publiseer for Music Videos’, a publishing package that will help musical artists get their music videos on Vevo. Publiseer has also added ‘Pandora’ to the list of partner stores it distributes songs to.

Publiseer has distributed 92+ books and songs of 250+ Nigerian writers and musicians, to 400+ stores in 100 countries, including Amazon, Google Play store, and Apple store.