Author: PositiveNaija

Winners Of The GOtv Boxing Night 14 [2018]

Winners have emerged in the GOtv Boxing Night 14.

22-year-old Rilwan Babatunde (aka Baby Face), has won the West African Boxing Union (WABU) welterweight title at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos.

Rilwan Babatunde defeated Djossou Agoy Basile from the Republic of Benin at the Gotv Boxing Night 14 in a fiercely contested bout via a fifth-round knockout.

The feat saw the young boxer winning the Mojisola Ogunsanya Memorial Trophy for the best boxer as well as a cash prize of ₦1 million.

On the feat, Rilwan Babatunde stated:

“I can’t be happier, I have given myself a birthday gift ahead of my 24th birthday but all I can say is that Basile put up a good fight but I was stronger and I was able to end the fight between the third and fourth round.

I have been working hard to get a title outside the shores of Nigeria and I can tell you that this is just the beginning of greater things to happen in Nigerian boxing because I will make history.”

Waidi “Skoro” Usman won the African Boxing Union (ABU) featherweight title by knocking out Michael “Shaka” Nyawade of Kenya in the 11th round.

Rilwan “Real One” Oladosun defeated Kehinde “Ijoba” Badmus to win the national lightweight title.

A national challenge bout in the category also saw the ABU champion, Oto “Joe Boy” Joseph defeat a hard-fighting Prince “Lion” Nwoye.

In the cruiserweight category, Abiodun “Finito” Afini knocked out Razak “Hyena” Ramon.

Sulaimon “Olags” Adeosun saw off Majesty “Majesty 1” Maduka in their light heavyweight challenge duel, while Chukwuebuka “Wise King” Ezewudo defeated Semiu “Jagaban” Olapade.

Winners Of The Asian Banker – West Africa Awards 2018

Winners have emerged in the Asian Banker – West Africa Awards 2018.

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) and its two affiliate countries – Nigeria and Ghana – have emerged winners in three strategic categories of The Asian Banker – West Africa Awards 2018.

The annual awards saw ETI winning the Best Financial Inclusion Initiative Application or Programme with its innovative Xpress Account, while Ecobank Nigeria carted home the Best Transaction Bank in Nigeria, West Africa award. Ecobank Ghana also won in the Best Transaction Bank in Ghana, West Africa category.

ALAT by Wema Bank, won the Best Digital Bank in Africa; the Best Wealth Management Bank in Nigeria went to Standard Chartered Bank while the Best Mobile Payment Service and The Digital Wallet of the Year went to Guaranty Trust Bank, among others.

According to the Chairman, The Asian Banker, Emmanuel Daniel at the Asian Banker – West Africa Awards 2018 ceremony in Lagos:

“These awards are the most rigorous, prestigious and transparent awards programme for financial technology, retail banking and transaction banking in West Africa today. We recognize the deepening and increasing maturity and sophistication of the industry in this region.

Ecobank’s aggressive digital push produced a first innovative mobile payments solution, the Masterpass QR with MasterCard to push financial inclusion in Nigeria through its new, smart, card-less, contactless and cashless payment solution. This bank also launched an integrated electronic banking platform that has on-boarded four million customers within a short space of time”.

In his comment, Charles Kie, Managing Director, Ecobank Nigeria thanked the Asian Banker Award Team for painstakingly creating an opportunity to celebrate hard work by members of the banking community.

Represented by Korede Demola-Adeniyi, Group Head, Personal Banking, the Ecobank Managing Director stated:

“We are using digital technology to combat many of the financial inclusion barriers faced by those on the continent.

I use this opportunity to dedicate this awards to all hard working staff of the Ecobank Group, who have tirelessly worked to see the success of the bank. And also to all Africans who believe in us and have continued to encourage our efforts by adopting our products”.

“Things Fall Apart” Makes Encyclopedia Britannica’s 12 Greatest Books Ever Written List [2018]

Things Fall Apart, the first novel written by late Nigerian literary icon, Chinua Achebe, has made the list of 12 “Greatest Books Ever Written” compiled by Encyclopedia Britannica.

According to the compilation written by John Pecoraro, the book, which now exists in 57 translations across the world, is one of the greatest ever written novels on the website of Encyclopedia Britannica in recent times.

Things Fall Apart, often considered Achebe’s best, is the most widely read book in modern African literature.

Other novels that made the list include; “Anna Karenina,” by Leo Tolstoy, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee, “The Great Gatsby,” by F. Scott Fitzgerald and “One Hundred Years of Solitu” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Others are “A Passage to India,” by E.M. Forster, “Invisible Man,” by Ralph Ellison, “Don Quixote,” by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, “Beloved,” by Toni Morrison, “Mrs. Dalloway,” by Virginia Woolf, “Jane Eyre,” by Charlotte Bronte and “The Color Purple,” by Alice Walker.

The honour comes months after the 60th anniversary of the publication of the novel and the release of a new edition of the classic novel with cover artwork by Nigerian artist, Victor Ekpuk.

Things Fall Apart is regarded as an important novel and one of the greatest classics of our time.  The story chronicles the pre-colonial life in Nigeria and the arrival of the Europeans during the late nineteenth century. 

The novel interrogates the clash of cultures, traditional values and belief systems.

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.

Continue reading Team Nigeria Wins 24 Medals At 2018 Commonwealth Games

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.

Continue reading Winners Of 2018 Pan African Re/Insurance Journalism Awards

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.