Month: May 2017

Ugo Ijeoma Ndianiefo Wins 2017 National Youth Oratory Contest

Ugo Ijeoma Ndianiefo, of the over 1,000 Nigerian youths drawn from 20 tertiary institutions across the country has emerged winner of the 2017 National Youth Oratory Contest with a star prizes of 1 million Naira and one week leadership training in South Africa.

The topic of the competition being: “Nigeria as entrepreneurial hub of Africa” which the orators argued for and against. Ugo Ijeoma Ndianiefo emerged first with 83.3 points, followed by Nwenyi Ogechi, Placid Martins, Eze nwakuba and Anidebe Collins.

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UNILAG Wins 2017 Young Creative Awards

The University of Lagos (UNILAG) has won the maiden edition of the Young Creative Awards (YouCrea) with a 1 million Naira prize organised by O2 Academy School of Advertising in Lagos.

The competition featured outstanding final year students of UNILAG, Yaba College of Technology (Yabatech) and the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ).

The competitors, who were into three teams – Star Wars (UNILAG), Avatar (Yabatech) and Matrix (NIJ) – were earlier hosted to an all-expense paid one-week boot camp by O2 Academy for “hands-on” training by advertising practitioners.

They produced advertising briefs against smoking in partial commemoration of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) World “No Tobacco Day” marked every May 31.

UNILAG’s 15-minute campaign, with the theme: Go Ahead, Smoke Yourself to Death, was adjudged the best by a panel of judges comprising the managing directors Creative Zone, Extreme Ideas, 141 Worldwide and Black Sea Communications, among other advert agencies.

Founder of O2 Academy, Ozoemene Mbanefo, who presented the award, said the next edition of YouCrea will include competitors from the University of Nigeria at Nsukka (UNN), University of Ibadan (UI) and the University of Benin (UNIBEN).

Mr. Ozoemene Mbanefo added;

“We felt a need to take advertising to higher institutions. The only way we can do so is to bring in some form of competition because competition is very healthy and it inspires people to do more.

So, Young Creative Awards is simply to inspire schools to inspire interest among more young, talented people in advertising, making advertising more ‘cool’ and interesting again.

I think more schools should engage YouCrea because that way we have a platform that connects the town and gown.”

UNILAG’s team of five students comprised Mass Communications students Abidemi Adesokan, Aboaba Tunde, Omomoh Tamara, Misturah Owolabi and Onike Qudus.

Olusegun Adekunle Emerge OPEC Alternate Chairman of 127th EC Board

Olusegun Adekunle has been appointed the Alternate Chairman of the 127th Economic Commission Board of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Mr. Olusegun Adekunle was before this appointment Nigeria’s representative to the Organisation.

The Economic Commission Board is responsible for writing reports and making recommendations to the Conference of OPEC Oil Ministers on oil prices and other economic issues. It also assists OPEC in promoting stability in international oil prices at equitable levels.

Tuteria Wins Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation [2017]

A personalized learning tutoring app Tuteria developed by 27-year-old Godwin Benson has won the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation awarded by the UK’s Royal Academy of Engineering.

Tuteria is a platform that links qualified tutors to student in their area and within their budget. The app has a ratings system, and allows students to book lessons using an upfront online payment system which solves the problem of access to quality, personalised learning and helps people earn income from sharing their knowledge.

Tutors are then paid once the lessons have been confirmed and Tuteria takes 15 to 30% commission for each paid lesson. Mr. Benson however  plans to use the prize money to widen Tuteria’s offering “even beyond Nigeria” and to include online classes and video courses as well.

According to Mr. Benson,

“It is something that solves the problem of access to quality, personalised learning and helps people earn income from sharing their knowledge.”

Mr. Benson emerged top over other 16 participants to clinch the $32,000 prize money.

Other entries in the competition includes a system that reduces the amount of energy used to heat water, an app that controls water consumption and a smart jacket to identity pneumonia.

The engineering innovation award was launched in 2014 and rewards innovators in sub-Saharan Africa.

GTBank & Dr. Benedict Oramah Win 2017 African Banker Awards

Winners of the 2017 African Banker awards have been announced at an event in India. The awards held annually on the fringes of the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank, celebrates excellence in banking and finance on the African continent.

President of Afreximbank, Dr. Benedict Oramah won ‘Banker of the Year’. Afreximbank has grown considerably in the past year, whilst other metrics, such as income to cost ratio were very competitive.

Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) won the ‘African Bank of the Year Award’. GTBank posted a 37% increase in profits in 2016, despite difficult trading conditions in its main market Nigeria.

Waheed A. Olagunju, the acting CEO and Managing Director of Bank of Industry was honoured with this year’s African Banker Icon award, which recognizes a banking career that spans over two decades.

5th Nigeria Transport Awards

Two subsidiaries of SIFAX Group, SIFAX Haulage and Logistics Limited and Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL) have won the Haulage & Logistics Company of the Year as well as Aviation Handling Company of the Year awards respectively at the fifth Nigeria Transport Awards.

The Nigeria Transport Awards is an annual event designed to reward deserving companies that have shown diligence, innovation and excellence in the country’s logistics industry.