2012: A BUSY YEAR FOR THE CAST AND PRODUCERS OF "MEET THE ADEBANJOS"

After years of unsuccessfully pitching the concept for ‘Meet the Adebanjos’ to mainstream British broadcasters, the show’s creators decided to raise their own funding and engage the world of the internet and social media. And that decision proved to be the best they ever made.

WHY SOUTH AFRICA’s TIGER BRAND INVESTED IN DANGOTE FLOUR MILLS

South African consumer goods giant Tiger Brands last month announced that it has bought a 63.35% stake in Dangote Flour Mills (DFM), one of Nigeria’s largest flour and pasta producers.

A NEW FARMING REALITY TV SHOW OUT IN 2013

A Nigerian company,  Hayzee Mind Concept, is now planning to launch a reality show where contestants will have to demonstrate their farming skills. The idea behind Corporate Farmers is to provide entertainment while showing Nigerian youths that farming can be a viable career. Hayzee Mind Concept hopes for the show to launch in the first quarter of 2013. 

ELEVEN YEARS ON. MTN STILL SEES POTENTIAL GROWTH IN NIGERIA

The South African based multinational telecommunications group, MTN, has a presence across sub-Saharan Africa and still sees potential for growth in some African countries it has been established in for years. In a recent KPMG Africa conversation series, Khumo Shuenyane – the group’s chief for strategy, mergers and acquisitions – said that the growth potential in Nigeria is still significant.

A NEW MOBILE APPLICATION AIMED AT TEACHING CHILDREN YORUBA

Omolabake Abimbola Adenle is a quantitative analyst at Morgan Stanley who lived alternatively between the US and Nigeria whilst growing up. Now based in London, Adenle has developed a mobile application, SpeakYoruba, aimed at teaching children of the African diaspora the West African Yoruba language.

NIGERIA LEADS SMARTPHONES MARKET IN AFRICA

Nigeria has been identified as the continent’s leader when it comes to smartphones penetration with a healthy 41 percent and is followed by South Africa with 31 percent while Kenya is a distant third with 7 percent.

BETWEEN THE PHCN AND BOKO HARAM

I have often wondered what Nigeria’s fate would have been if Boko Haram was like the Power Holding Company of Nigeria and vice versa. Would the country have been better than it is presently?

MEET THE INVENTOR OF NIGERIA'S FIRST LIMOUSINE TRICYCLE

Ibrahim Adekunle’s Limousine Tricycle was one of the five selected inventions on the BBC’s coverage of Maker Faire Africa, an exhibition for inventors which took place in Lagos recently. He is Adekunle Ibrahim a.k.a. Mr. Make People Happy, a 26 year old Blacksmith and Welder.  

His passion and knack for reconstructing and remodeling transport vehicles has put him on the international platform. The invention is a replica of the popular KEKE NAPEP but was further expanded to accommodate more seats and passengers.

Adekunle, who refers to his invention as Limousine Tricycle said he constructed the vehicle after cutting the regular tricycle into two and adding more seats and spare parts to make it look like a car. The Limousine Tricycle can contain between 10-13 passengers at a time.

He is popularly called “Mr. Make People Happy” because his invention always put smiles on the faces of people that come in contact with it. The invention took him 6 months to complete because of lack of finances but according to him, it will take only two days if all the materials are available.

This passionate and hard working genius operates from his little space under the Oregun-Opebi link bridge in Ikeja, Lagos. He wants support from the appropriate authorities to keep his dream alive.

Credit: Bella Naija

UNILAG RANKS 9TH AMONGST TOP 10 AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES

While students from across Africa continue to move abroad to study at leading learning institutions in America and Europe, Africa boasts its own league of great institutions. Among the top ten Universities in Africa is Nigeria’s University of Lagos who emerged in the 9th position in a recent ranking released by Africa.com.

THE NIGERIAN PRISONS GETS RE-BRANDED

The Nigerian Prison service has been renamed The Nigerian Prisons and Correctional Service following the third reading and passage of A Bill for an act to repeal the prison Act Cap. P29 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria to make comprehensive provisions for the administration of Prisons in Nigeria and for related purposes.

NIGERIAN POLICE IN OGUN RETURNS STOLEN N6.9M TO BANK

The Nigerian Police in Ogun State confirmed that they returned the sum of N6.9m stolen by armed robbers from an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) in Sagamu area of the state to the affected commercial bank.

The State’s Police Commissioner, Okoye Ikemefuna who did not mention the name of the bank stated this while parading a batch of 24 suspects for various offences at the Eleweran Police Headquarters in Abeokuta. Ikemefuna assured the residents of Ogun of the command’s eagerness to fight crime especially during the yuletide season.

NIGERIA'S FIRST RENEWABLE ENERGY MODEL VILLAGE COMMISSIONED

For those who think the Northern part of Nigeria is backward, well you might want to have a rethink. History was made on Monday 25th November 2012 when the first renewable Energy Model Village was commissioned in Danjawa, Wammako Local Government Area of Sokoto State.

Speaking at the epoch making event, the Director General of the Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN) Professor Abubakar Sambo who was represented by Professor Idris Bugaje, maintained that the absence of sustainable supplies of energy in rural communities was responsible for the marginalization of rural dwellers.

According to him, 80 percent of the rural dwellers lack access to sufficient energy, which has made life difficult for them. He said most of people in the rural area depend on wood for energy which is not environmentally friendly and causes global warming. The Director General stressed the need for the development of bio-fuel industry in rural areas to further boost their economies.

TEAM UNILAG WINS GOOGLE APPLICATION CONTEST

Three students of the University of Lagos have won the 2012 edition of Google Apps Developer Challenge for the Enterprise/Small Business Solutions category in sub-Saharan Africa. The students are Bolutife Ogunsola a student of Electrical/Electronics Engineering; Willie Francis Aniebiet a student of Systems Engineering and Michael Ifeoluwa Adeyeri

They created the Form+ application software; an interface that creates application forms by just dragging and dropping components. The user can create forms like Curriculum Vitae or Resume submission forms for businesses and coursework submission page for lecturers. The winners were rewarded with Chromebooks and $20,000 and a grant of $18,000 for their department.

FOURTEEN YEAR OLD NIGERIAN MAKES HER DEBUT IN THE FASHION WORLD

Tumisola Ladega is not your average teenager who is often burdened with the rigours of school work or worried sick over challenges of puberty. Her concerns are quite of a peculiar nature. At just  14 years old, she broke into the fashion world debuting her collections.

Tumisola was recently announced as the winner of the UK FDC Young Designer Award where she was selected to debut her collection at the 2012 FDC Young Designer Awards at the Pullman London Hotel, as well as in the Fashion Designers Expo in Florida, USA.

According to Joanna Marcella CEO and Founder of UK's Fashion Designer and Craft makers Young Designers Award, "Leading up to and during last years awards Tumi proved to be a very articulate and dynamic young designer who delivered totally on the brief that was set which was to design garment inspired by one of the great artist. Tumi chose Wassily Kandinsky, she is truly a worthy winner of this fantastic opportunity.”

NIGERIANS RULE FORBES AFRICA RICH LIST

For those who keep doubting that Nigeria is truly the giant of Africa, you need to hear this. Forbes Africa has recently released the list of 40 richest men in Africa and our own Aliko Dangote is on top of the list again. This time he made it alongside 10 other Nigerians.

Dangote topped the list for the second year running with a net worth of $12 billion from $10.1 billion in November 2011. According to the Forbes Africa report, his net worth was measured from the popular product like Dangote Cement, Sugar and Flour which operates in over 14 African countries and many others around the globe.

MEET AMARACHI UYANNE, AN 8 YEAR OLD BUNDLE OF TALENT

The fourth semi-final show of the continent’s biggest talent hunt show; Nigeria’s Got Talent had a lot of talents to be remembered for; but one spectacular act left the viewers in awe and admiration of what great talent Nigeria has to offer.

It was in the form of 8-year-old, Amarachi Uyanne who opened the show with a breath-taking ballet rendition of Brymo’s Ara before she switched to a contemporary dance performance which got the judges and audience on their feet with unending applauses.

NIGERIAN FEMALE STUDENTS INVENT A URINE-POWERED GENERATOR

 

Four Nigerian teenagers, Biola Eniola (15), Adebola Duro Aina (14), Abiola Akindele (14) and Oluwatoyin Faleke (14) Senior Secondary 2 students from Doregos Private Academy, Lagos have stunned the world with their invention of a urine powered generator. This unique invention was showcased at this year’s Maker Fair Africa which held from Monday 5th November to Tuesday 6th November 2012 in Lagos, Nigeria.

The system works by pouring urine into an electrolytic cell to separate the hydrogen. The filtered hydrogen then goes into a water filter for purification where it then be pushed into a gas cylinder. Afterwards, the gas cylinder pushes hydrogen into a cylinder of liquid borax in order to remove the moisture from the hydrogen gas. Lastly, the purified hydrogen gas is then pushed into the generator to provide power to the bulb.