President of the African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina has emerged the 2017 World Food Prize Laureate. Speaking during his Norman Borlaug Lecture titled “Betting on Africa to Feed the World,” delivered on Monday, October 16 on World Food Day in the United States, Akinwunmi maintained that Africa holds the key for feeding the nine billion people that will inhabit this planet by 2050.
The Laureate also called for land tax for unused agricultural land or underutilized agricultural land to provide incentives for faster commercialization of agriculture and unlocking its potential in Africa.
In the lecture held before a large international audience at Iowa State University in Des Moines, Iowa, Adesina stressed why, more than ever before, the world must help Africa to rapidly modernize its agriculture and unlock its full potential.
“Africa sits on 65% of the uncultivated arable land left in the world, so what Africa does with agriculture will determine the future of food in the world,” he emphasized. “African farmers need more than a helping hand. They need a policy lift,” Adesina said.
He also highlighted how the challenge of addressing global food security is greatest in Africa where close to 300 million are malnourished. It is also the only region of the world where the proportion of the population that is food insecure has increased, he said.
The AfDB President paid tribute to Dr. Norman Borlaug, whom the lecture series was named after, and recalled how Africa was the last frontier for the late Borlaug.
Borlaug, the Founder of the World Food Prize, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for a lifetime of work to feed a hungry world.
Adesina stressed that despite the progress globally in food production (including in Africa, Latin America and Asia), the world still has 700 million people languishing in extreme poverty. This, he added, includes 800 million with chronic hunger, 2 billion people with micronutrient deficiency, and 150 million children under 5 years of age who are suffering from stunting.
He described the challenge of feeding the world as immense, with need for rapid increases in global food, feed and biofuel production to feed a global population of 9 billion people by 2050.
“If Dr. Borlaug alone could feed one billion people, we definitely can feed 800 million people globally and we definitely can feed 300 million Africans. Dr. Borlaug would be disappointed if we couldn’t and with all technologies and innovations, from gene revolution to ICT revolution, at our disposal, we won’t be able to face him and say we didn’t.”
Adesina decried the current situation where Africa spends US $35 billion annually on food imports, describing it as unacceptable. By his estimates, if the current trend continues, Africa is estimated to spend US $110 billion by 2030 on food imports.
“There is therefore absolutely no reason for Africa to be a food-importing region. Africa has huge potential in agriculture, but, as Dr. Borlaug used to say, nobody eats potential!”
Unlocking that potential must start with the savannas of Africa which covers “a mind-boggling 600 million hectares of which 400 million hectares are cultivable,” Adesina said.
Africa’s savannas, he said, are better than the savannas of Brazil, because their soils are not acidic and therefore do not need liming, which had to be done at massive scales in Brazil.
“Yet, while the savannas of Brazil feed the world, those of Africa cannot even feed the farmers there,” he lamented. He further highlighted how technologies, innovations, research and development, mechanization, modernization of agriculture, policy support and massive investments in infrastructure made the difference to turn the savannas of Brazil and those of Northern Thailand into a food powerhouse.
To transform its agriculture, Africa needs to make a decision to develop new agrarian systems − one that combines smallholder farmers with a new dynamic generation of medium and large commercial farmers.
He also canvassed land tenure systems that make it easier to get access to land, and for smallholder farmers and their communities to have secured land rights. A top priority must be to mechanize agriculture in Africa, he added.
Over 1,200 people from more than 65 countries will address cutting-edge issues related to global food security and nutrition at the 2017 Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium, October 18-20, 2017.
Movie Review: Mentally | By: Jerry Chiemeke
Movie Title: Mentally
Genre: Comedy
Year Of Release: 2017
Cast: Frank Donga, Erick Didie, Toyin Abraham, Jude Chukwuka, Charles Okagbue, Etinosa Idemudia, Woli Arole
Special Appearances: James Abinibi, Patience Lawal
Director: James Abinibi
“Mentally” is a movie set in contemporary Lagos. It tells the story of a man named Akin (Donga), who decides to leave his rural dwelling for the city of Lagos, much to his mother’s dismay. He is ushered in by his friend Emeka (Didie), but gets a classic welcome gift when he has to pay for prayers from a prophet (Aroli), and is relieved of his transport fare by a pickpocket. Emeka takes Akin to a local restaurant, where the former is able to avoid paying for their meals by conning the owner of the place.
Later in the day, Emeka introduces Akin to his friends, whom he regularly supplies marijuana. They taunt Akin on account of his dress sense, but persuade him to smoke with them. Akin ultimately caves in to the pressure, sucks in some of the marijuana, and gets transported into a unique mind experience.
The first thing to note in this movie is that Adekunle Gold has got really good acting chops. He successfully pulled off his role as a bus conductor, and if his music career ever derails, he should consider a stint behind the silver screen…in a different, role, at least. Frank Donga’s facial expressions are priceless too; they have always been a crucial part of his comedy routine, and they add life to the movie.
Also Read: Movie Review: My Wife And I
Erick Didie’s attempt at humour is 50-50, but he is by no means a bad actor. The part where an intoxicated Donga attempts to dab and do the shakiti-bobo makes for genuine laughing too, and the cinematography is top notch, even if there was a glitch at the restaurant scene. Toyin Abraham gives a good account of herself, and while Etinosa Idemudia has upgraded from being just an Instagram comedian, her part in this movie was, to put it simply, needless.
Also Read: Movie Review: The Women
“Mentally” reeks of a plot and acting sequence which have too many gaping holes. How do people in a primitive village averse to civilisation have attachments and braids on? How do a “strange” people get around to speaking bits of Hausa and Yoruba? There is also the question of how a supposedly backward village gets to have their leader watching the English Premier League on a television without a wall socket, but I guess that can be explained by the “spirit” of the marijuana Donga’s character smoked. The dialogue is slow, the transition in scenes are pretty bad, and the fact that most of the action is a post-marijuana reverie is the only thing that saves this clip from being a horrible movie.
The movie ends in a manner that leaves you with thoughts along the lines of “Ok, we get it, marijuana is bad, and then, what next?” The message is good, and the humour is somewhat passable, but it could have been better executed, and for every ten people at the cinema, five would probably feel hard done by.
Rating: 5.9/10
Jerry Chiemeke is a lawyer and freelance writer who lives in Lagos. An amateur photographer and sports enthusiast as well, Jerry’s works have appeared on Blanck Digital, Elsieisy, Oshodi.tv, The Kalahari Review and Brittle Paper. He is the author of ‘The Colours In These Leaves’. Get the book here
You can follow him on Twitter @J_Chiemeke, and also check out his craft on his blog at pensofchi.com
We Won't All Be Enterpreneurs | By: Michael Idowu
To think of it at all is a mirage. Bet you can remember those days when a visitor comes into your living room holds those tender arms of yours and asks you that ageless question “what do you want to become in the future” smiles runs down your cheeks as you answer with the innocence of a child, I want to become a………..
Yes, you could remember yourself acting into the future, being the person of your dreams. You were the young doctor who happened to have treated your friends who feigned sickness while you were acting out those your poorly constructed scripts…hahahahaha. The engineer who in the name of repairing your sound speakers ended up complicating things. You were the nurse who stood by mum’s side when she was down with fever. The accountant who loved to tuck in the shirt and look very formal in appearance, do you remember if anybody or anything tried to hinder you in appearing or behaving in a way that tandems with your childish dreams, all you could do is cry? You were beaten and probably spanked for what was deemed to be a troublesome behavior yet in your own very eyes, you were living out your own very dreams.
Maybe I need to ask you why? It begs a question that has always been pondering on my mind. Must we all be entrepreneurs? Or rather are we all cut out to become entrepreneurs?
A very popular media mogul and serial entrepreneur as described by herself, speaking at the 2017 edition of the WIMBIZ said that not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur but are meant to be part of a team. She also retorted, that finding one’s purpose is a very difficult process but youth gives us the opportunity to dream and explore several opportunities.
In a nation where majority of its youth are unemployed, it’s safe to say that being an entrepreneur, is the way out. The popular saying ‘Think of what you can do for your country rather than what the country can do for you’ has been so much over-flogged that it has become nothing more than just mere hearsay; a platform under which “they” have chosen to hide throwing the gauntlet down to our faces.
The youth of today are very lazy they say; “they have everything to their advantage yet they have refused to make use of them” calumny at its best, mostly a case of trying to throw away the baby with the bathwater.
Why must everything be circumstantial? I ask! Can’t I just have the boldness to pursue my dreams and have a country to support me? I ask, is this a country that would enable those childhood dreams to become a reality or one that crumbles it on the altar of subsistence.
Not everyone wants to become the next Aliko Dangote or Tony Elumelu, neither are we seeking to become the next Folorusho Alakija. All we want is a nation that allows us to live out our dreams or what we choose to become. Modest as it may seem, the satisfaction and happiness it brings, is one that cannot be rivalled.
Some of us would still have to taste that pill of reality, we would have to fight for that dream of ours and this is not the best of times for us as a nation. I know the government is doing all in its power to encourage more youths in taking up entrepreneurial skills, facing the reality of a dwindling economy but then, you can also do something to encourage the aspiring biologist; engineer; lawyer, accountant; journalist; Architect; economist; environmentalist; educationist; scientist; linguist; broadcaster……….. The list is endless.
So when you see any of my fellow young aspiring folks walking along the street with a paper bag in their hands and a bag pack on their backs, it’s okay for you to laugh, you could have your own objections and opinions on what they should be doing or on whatever you think about them, but never you call them lazy. They are battlers fighting for their lives, careers and future.
Someone would need to pay the price now for the upcoming generations and it’s certainly not going to be those who are seated in the corridors of power, neither is it going to be my aged parents, that’s going to have to be me. The next Ben Carson, Phil Emegali, Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Steve Jobs, Chike Obi, Grace Alele-Williams, Dora Akunyili, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and many more of such we one day aspire to become. Can’t you see that this dreams of ours, are so great and we can’t just let go of them?
So please do us a big favor. If you feel helpless in making these dreams of us become a reality, stop making yourselves impediments to our efforts in making them a reality. For we have already, a great battle on our hands and there are some of us who would rather die fighting for our dreams than taking the so called circumstantial way out.
….. For we would not all become your entrepreneurs.
Girl Child Day: Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde shares her childhood experience
Call her the poster girl for the young and wildly successful and you won’t be wrong but growing up wasn’t all rosy for Nigerian actress, and philanthropist, Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde. In a post, commemorating Day of the Girl Child, which is today, ‘Omosexy’, as widely called revealed her struggles through childhood and fame. Read below:
“On today’s girl child day I’ll do an unusual post true to me. As a child I lost my father age 12. Sponsored by a great community of Ondo men, the #Ekimogunclub, so i could continue my education. At age 15, started struggling to help my widowed mother. I started working in the Entertainment Industry. While going to school, and working, faced many challenges as a female child… talks of being loose, perhaps being a prostitute,lack of freedom to mingle like male counterparts, rumours and fear of slander, sexual harassments… but one of my early dreams was to be great at whatever I chose and be side by side the best in the World. I’m Not totally there yet, … but.. That 12 years old iyanaipaja little girl did take care of her widowed mum till she died, took care of her younger brothers… they are in marriage stages now, taking care of herself and her own family, taking care of a few people she is privileged to be able to. She has worked, spoken on, been awarded on World stages , and has been compared to the people she admired when growing up , from other parts of the World… She’s still a work in progress but…
Dont You dare Underestimate the possibilities of a girl Child.
#Educationiskey#Educationbreedsconfidence #Ressilience#deligince #Girlchild#internationaldayofgirlchild#impossibleisNothing”
Dove ‘racist’ ad: Nigerian model defends campaign
Few days ago, an advert by personal care brand, Dove showing a black woman turning white after using one of their products, a soap to be precise, sparked outrage online., with many labelling it racist and calling on friends all over the world to boycott the company’s products.
The company has issued and apology and withdrawn the ad. “An image we recently posted on Facebook missed the mark in representing women of color thoughtfully. We deeply regret the offense it caused.”
Well, Lola Ogunyemi, a Nigerian model at the center of the controversial advertisement has also defended the campaign, saying the message was taken out of context. Read her opinion below.
“From a very young age, I’ve been told, “You’re so pretty … for a dark-skinned girl.” I am a Nigerian woman, born in London and raised in Atlanta. I’ve grown up very aware of society’s opinion that dark-skinned people, especially women, would look better if our skin were lighter.
I know that the beauty industry has fuelled this opinion with its long history of presenting lighter, mixed-race or white models as the beauty standard. Historically, and in many countries still today, darker models are even used to demonstrate a product’s skin-lightening qualities to help women reach this standard.
This repressive narrative is one I have seen affect women from many different communities I’ve been a part of. And this is why, when Dove offered me the chance to be the face of a new body wash campaign, I jumped.
Having the opportunity to represent my dark-skinned sisters in a global beauty brand felt like the perfect way for me to remind the world that we are here, we are beautiful, and more importantly, we are valued.
Then one morning, I woke up to a message from a friend asking if the woman in a post he’d seen was really me. I went online and discovered I had become the unwitting poster child for racist advertising. No lie.
If you Google “racist ad” right now, a picture of my face is the first result. I had been excited to be a part of the commercial and promote the strength and beauty of my race, so for it to be met with widespread outrage was upsetting.
Calls were being made to boycott Dove products, and friends from all over the world were checking on me to see if I was OK. I was overwhelmed by just how controversial the ad had become.
If I had even the slightest inclination that I would be portrayed as inferior, or as the “before” in a before and after shot, I would have been the first to say an emphatic “no”. I would have (un)happily walked right off set and out of the door. That is something that goes against everything I stand for.
However, the experience I had with the Dove team was positive. I had an amazing time on set. All of the women in the shoot understood the concept and overarching objective – to use our differences to highlight the fact that all skin deserves gentleness.
I remember all of us being excited at the idea of wearing nude T-shirts and turning into one another. We weren’t sure how the final edit was going to look, nor which of us would actually be featured in it, but everyone seemed to be in great spirits during filming, including me.
Then the first Facebook ad was released: a 13-second video clip featuring me, a white woman, and an Asian woman removing our nude tops and changing into each other. I loved it. My friends and family loved it. People congratulated me for being the first to appear, for looking fabulous, and for representing Black Girl Magic. I was proud.
Then, the full, 30-second TV commercial was released in the US, and I was over the moon again. There were seven of us in the full version, different races and ages, each of us answering the same question: “If your skin were a wash label, what would it say?”
Again, I was the first model to appear in the ad, describing my skin as “20% dry, 80% glowing”, and appearing again at the end. I loved it, and everyone around me seemed to as well. I think the full TV edit does a much better job of making the campaign’s message loud and clear.
There is definitely something to be said here about how advertisers need to look beyond the surface and consider the impact their images may have, specifically when it comes to marginalized groups of women. It is important to examine whether your content shows that your consumer’s voice is not only heard, but also valued.
I can see how the snapshots that are circulating the web have been misinterpreted, considering the fact that Dove has faced a backlash in the past for the exact same issue. There is a lack of trust here, and I feel the public was justified in their initial outrage. Having said that, I can also see that a lot has been left out. The narrative has been written without giving consumers context on which to base an informed opinion.
While I agree with Dove’s response to unequivocally apologise for any offense caused, they could have also defended their creative vision, and their choice to include me, an unequivocally dark-skinned black woman, as a face of their campaign. I am not just some silent victim of a mistaken beauty campaign. I am strong, I am beautiful, and I will not be erased.
Source: The Guardian
World Cup: Nigeria beat Zambia to qualify for Russia 2018
Nigeria has become the first African nation to book a spot at the 2018 World Cup after a 1-0 win over Zambia in Uyo. 21 year-old Super Eagles forward, Alex Iwobi’s 73rd minute strike made sure the Super Eagles qualified for next summer’s World Cup in Russia.
Alex Iwobi took his national team to the world stage shortly after he came in as a substitute at the 65th minute of the game.
America’s Mad Obsession with Guns | By: Tony Ogunlowo
Again another psychotic madman strikes killing over 50 people and injuring more than 500 in the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave. Never a day goes by in America that there isn’t a homicide caused as the result of a gun in the hands of an irresponsible person.
A gun is not a toy – it kills people and currently more than 300 million Americans – a third of the population- own them.
While some are calling for the control of guns others are clamouring for them: they claim the Second Amendment gives them the right to own guns to protect themselves. The powerful National Rifle Association, for instance, has lobbied every President in recent years against gun control. Owning a gun is like a birth right to many: they’ll claim people in the family have owned guns for generations and they intend to carry on the tradition. Perhaps, but in the past people used guns for hunting and not to turn into Rambo wiping out scores of people!
Again protecting themselves from what? If there wasn’t a proliferation of readily available guns, in the first place, they wouldn’t need to protect themselves with such weapons.
Buying a gun is easy. All you need is two forms of identification and in some states you can legally own a firearm before you are old enough to drive a car, buy alcohol or even have sex! Only preliminary checks are made when a person buys a firearm: checking to see if they have a registered address and no outstanding warrants. No checks are made to see if they’re psychologically sane, enough, to carry a firearm or whether they belong to any far-right or terrorist organisation – you have the money, you can buy a gun!
Even though there are limitations on the kinds of firearms you can purchase, people have devised ways of converting single shot guns, for example, into fully automatics; that is to say a rifle that can fire one bullet per squeeze of the trigger can be converted to pump out over 500 bullets per minute, just like the Las Vegas shooter converted his guns to do with the help of a simple device called ‘bump stocks’. While there are a lot of gunsmiths who’ll readily convert, illegally, a gun for a fee, conversion kits are widely available online even through websites owned by Walmart!
Hollywood also has to share in the blame for promoting the gun culture in America. Every year dozens of action packed films are released that glamourizes the gun culture. All it takes is for a demented fantasist to pick up a gun in an attempt to try and recreate his favourite actors’ murderous killing spree and this has happened before where people have imagined( – probably after taking a cocktail of drugs and alcohol!) they are Neo from ‘The Matrix’ or Rambo and have gone on killing sprees.
Gun crime used to be the sole reserve of hoodlums and gangsters: this has now spread to include anyone who has a gun and can become unhinged and go on the rampage. The Las Vegas shooter has been described as a quiet millionaire with no criminal record who just suddenly lost the plot.
Some people get overwhelmed by the power of owning a gun: they’ve suddenly got the power of life and death over somebody in their hands and can’t wait to use it – one of the reasons young Americans kill each other indiscriminately, they’ve got the power to do it and will likely shoot first without thinking about the consequences of their actions.
A lot has been said about gun control in America. In the wake of the Las Vegas shooting more will be said but nothing will be done: the President will go on TV to condemn the killings and offer his condolences to the bereaved and the people will bury and mourn the dead until the next time. And there will be a next time and another next time ad infinitum until all the guns are taken off the people. Perhaps it’s time to repeal the Second Amendment which allows people to freely buy guns as suggested by Michael Moore, the US filmmaker.
Firearms ownership should be limited to the security services who need them to maintain law and order: when you have a third of the population running around with firearms it complicates things; everybody becomes a potential target as everybody is a potential murderer.
You can’t have your cake and eat it: if Americans want to carry guns, people will die – sometimes en masse!
Perhaps President Trump should do more to control guns in America and home-grown terrorists instead of banning every ‘Muslim terrorist’ coming into the country.
Tony Ogunlowo blogs at http://www.archangel641.blogspot.co.uk
Andres Iniesta signs ‘lifetime contract’ with Barcelona
Barcelona midfielder, Andres Iniesta has signed a ‘lifetime contract’ with Barcelona, keeping him at the club for the rest of his career. The Spaniard has also put an end to speculation regarding his future at the club.
Meanwhile, on this day in 1996, the 33 year-old World Cup winner played his first Barcelona game for their U14B side. He has made 600 senior appearances to his name since.
Kudos, knocks as Nigerians react to Tiwa Savage's views on gender inequality. See our top reactions.
Kudos and knocks have trailed a statement made by Nigerian superstar, Tiwa Savage on gender equality. In a chat with BEAT FM’s Toolz on ‘The Midday Show’, the award-winning singer said women and men cannot be regarded as equal and then further urged women to work twice as hard as their male counterparts.
She said, “It’s a reality. I’m not going to say I’m completely comfortable with it but it is what it is. You have to deal with it. If it means you have to work 10 times harder than your male counterparts, don’t complain about it, do what you have to do. We all celebrate people like Oprah and Mo Abudu and we don’t actually realize what they have to do to get to that point. They probably had to do 20 times more what the male counterparts had to do. But Once you get there, you don’t complain about how you got there. So, whatever it is you have to do as a female, you just have to get it done. I also don’t think men and women are equal, I don’t think that’s how God created us, especially in the household anyway. So I think as females when we realize that we can be strong in our career, when we are home we have to realise that the man is the head of the house.”
Nigerian twitter has not been the same ever since the statement was made, infact the superstar has been trending for two days now. Over 11000 tweets have been dedicated to that topic. See our top reactions below:
Dear future husband, you remain the head of the home, no matter what happens and I pray God bless you with everything you need to be one 🙏🏽
— Okikiola (@DeycallmiFaMe) October 4, 2017
https://twitter.com/UrbanCulture06/status/916195245431410688
"The man is the head of the house." – Tiwa Savage
You can be disappointed if you like and that's fine. She said the truth.
— Dr. Dípò Awójídé (@OgbeniDipo) October 5, 2017
https://twitter.com/Rouvafe/status/915949336751673344
Tiwa Savage said "The man is the head of the house", & You're disappointed in her,bcos you're a feminist & woke twitter. Pray for Good brain
— Zaddy Ajala (@UNCLE_AJALA) October 5, 2017
Lol
Was just a matter of time you disgusting humans call out Tiwa savage
I was actually expecting this.
— Olujimi (@Jimiginger__) October 5, 2017
Tiwa savage said her own as regards whatever.
You claim to be woke and open minded
You dey attack person ontop her own opinion
Tueh— Cinderella Man (@Osi_Suave) October 5, 2017
https://twitter.com/HelenofIbadan/status/915928166123884544
https://twitter.com/OneXMind/status/915947115309920257
Even those of you that will still go to church on Sunday and hear the same thing Tiwa Savage said from your pastors are dragging her
— The Alawada of Awada (@TheSagachristos) October 5, 2017
https://twitter.com/helficbarom/status/915959666806583296
https://twitter.com/ChukwukaJerri/status/915940728601276416
https://twitter.com/victorfreze/status/915943225952784385
https://twitter.com/ty_ivanny/status/915941313811484672
Tiwa savage believes "the men are the heads of the house and men and women are not equal".That's her opinion and everyone should respect it.
— Letom Ngia 🍒 (@Arhcent) October 5, 2017
"Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting for those who belong to the Lord" I guess this is what Tiwa Savage is trying 2 communicate but what should will do to the SCUM gang??
— GiveawayNaija (@GiveawayNAlJA) October 5, 2017
https://twitter.com/Uthman_Waxcav/status/915993659597877248
They came for Tiwa Savage abi? Lol….dey will remember the man is the head when armed robbers comes visiting. " Daddy wa…e open the door"
— Q's dad! (@solarcellXIII) October 6, 2017
https://twitter.com/BillionTwiTs/status/916074703248285696
Except u aren't a xtian will u pick offense in Tiwa Savage's statement.
Many marriages collapse today cos couples ignored the words of God.— Kemi Ariyo (@d_problemsolver) October 5, 2017
Tiwa Savage said "The man is the head of the house", & You're disappointed in her, 🤦🏽♂️🤷🏾♂️ what did your dad & mum teach you sef!
— Balogun of Lagos (@thetimibalogun) October 6, 2017
Aguero to be out for 6 weeks
Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero is likely to be out of action for a minimum of six weeks, according to a doctor of the Argentina national team. The Argentine who broke his rib in a car crash last week after attending a music concert a week ago in Amsterdam will miss important updates, he recently took to his Instagram page to share his recovery update.
“Thank you with all my heart for the supportive messages, they really do help me in recovering. I’d like to thank the staff of the VU University Medical Amsterdam for their care and support. Hats off to all their team. I’m home in Manchester after an exam by club Drs. It’s a broken rib. Hurts, but I’m fine, fully focused on recovery.”
Dr Donato Villani confirmed today that “Aguero is going to be out for a month and a half minimum. He is unable to get out of the house or the car.”