Dear Compatriots,
I greet and felicitate with you all as we celebrate Christmas once again. I join our Christian compatriots and all other Nigerians in giving thanks to God Almighty whose Grace and Benevolence has helped our nation to overcome the many challenges it has had since we celebrated Christmas last year. The annual commemoration of the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ is a most auspicious time for us, as individuals and as a nation, to rededicate ourselves to the virtues and ideals which the Messiah preached and exemplified during his earthly ministry. Let us all therefore resolve this Christmas to make the ideals of peace, harmony, tolerance, love and goodwill to all even more manifest in our interactions with others.
It remains my sincere belief that no height of human accomplishment is beyond us as a nation, if we can overcome our differences, such as they are, and forge a binding national consensus to put the progress and well-being of the country above all other considerations. My administration will do all within its powers and abilities to ensure that when representatives of our people assemble for the forthcoming national conference next year, they will have every opportunity and encouragement to make very significant contributions towards forging the required consensus for sustained national peace, unity and progress.
It is also my expectation that the national conference will contribute in no small measure towards the urgent resolution of contentious issues which currently hinder our progress as a nation.
With God Almighty as our Guide, Strength and Enabler, My Administration will continue to implement its Agenda for National Transformation in furtherance of its avowed commitment to improving the living conditions of all Nigerians.We will continue to count on the prayers, support and cooperation of all patriotic Nigerians in the coming year as we consolidate and build on our achievements in several sectors including national security, power supply, communications, transportation, health and education. As we commemorate the birth of the Prince of Peace, let us all strive to honour Him more by living our lives as He taught; by making personal sacrifices for the good of others, by showing greater love for others, by being fairer and more honest in our dealings with others, by being ever-willing to forgive those who offend us and by always extending goodwill towards others.On behalf of myself, my family and the Federal Government, I wish you all very joyful Christmas celebrations, and a peaceful and prosperous 2014.
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
President,
Federal Republic of Nigeria
D'BANJ AND ONYEKA ONWENU RECORD SOUNDTRACK FOR HALF OF A YELLOW SUN FILM
Nigerian music superstar Dapo 'Dbanj' Oyebanjo and veteran songstress Onyeka Onwenu have recorded the official soundtrack for award-winning writer, Chimamanda Adichie's hugely successful book turned movie Half of a Yellow Sun.
Saw the trailer of the film, brilliant production, great cast, top-notch quality so it deserves nothing less than a masterpiece soundtrack. Trust Onyeka to deliver her part well and as for D'banj, his AFCON 2013 theme song is still stuck in our heads, I hope he churns out something far better, nothing short of a classic. The song would be released next year.
TOOLZ AND MAI ATAFO COVER Y!NAIJA DECEMBER ISSUE
EMENIKE IS THE ONLY NIGERIAN PLAYER ON GUARDIAN'S 2013 TOP 100 WORLD FOOTBALLER'S LIST
IT'S OFFICIAL! D'BANJ UNVEILED AS GLO AMBASSADOR
DAZZLING MIRAGE: CHECK OUT PICTURES FROM KUNLE AFOLAYAN AND KEMI AKINDOJU'S WEDDING SCENE
This is how a wedding scene should look like in movies, my point has always been, if you are ever going to produce a movie, count the cost, give us a quality movie not some run-off-the-mill productions. These are some scenes from ace cinematographer, Tunde Kelani's new movie, "Dazzling Mirage". He just wrapped up shooting of the film and trust me, it really looks good (well anything from Tunde Kelani has never been disappointing)
Kunle Afolayan and Kemi Lala Akindoju's wedding scene is splendid. Top surprises were the wedding invitation card and the Alaga Iduro (MC). The movie which also features Bimbo Manuel, Bukola Awoyemi (Arugba) famous Fuji artiste, Adewale Ayuba and Don Jazzy's Dad, Enebeli Collins would be released in 2014.
NSE IKPE-ETIM, DESMOND ELLIOT, OMAWUMI OTHERS NOMINATED FOR GHANA MOVIE AWARDS
Nigerian actors; Desmond Elliot, Rita Dominic, Nse Ikpe-Etim, Patience Ozokwor, Omawumi, Yemi Blaq have been nominated for the 4th edition of Ghana Movie Awards. Scheduled to hold on Monday, December 30, 2013 at the Accra International Conference Center.Ghanaian nominees include Yvonne Okoro, Lydia Forson, Majid Michel, Jackie Appiah, Yvonne Nelson, Joselyn Dumas, John Dumelo, Van Vicker, to mention a few.
NOMINEES
(1) BEST AFRICAN COLLABORATION (BEST ACTOR)Contract -Hlomla Dandala
Number One Fan – Yemi Black
Finding Mercy- Desmond Elliot
House of Gold -Francis Odega
Volunteers – Bobby Obodo
(2) BEST AFRICAN COLLABORATION (BEST ACTRESS) Nse Ikpe Etim- Purple Rose
Rita Dominic –Finding Mercy
Omawumi Meglele- House of Gold
Ivie Okujaye- Volunteers
Patience Ozokwor – Slave Boy(3) BEST ORIGINAL SCOREIvan Ayitey- Contract
Berni Anti –House of Gold
Shaun Burdick- Northern Affair(4) WRITING- ADAPTED OR ORIGINAL SCREENPLAYContract–by Herty Owusu and Shirley Frimpong-Manso
House of Gold – by Pascal Amanfo
Northern Affair – by Leila Djansi
The Pledge– by Benjamin Dwomoh
Cheaters- by Frank Rajah(5) PRODUCTION DESIGNA) Okomfo Anokye OKOMFO ANOKYE – Production design- Brinks Abdullai, Set decoration- Bismark Gyamerah
B) The Pledge– Production design-D.J Vegas, Set decoration-Ghana Armed forces
C) Northern Affair- Production design-Tony Tomety, Set decoration- Palm Gottfried
D) Contract- Production design-Shirley Frimpong-Manso, Set decoration- Ken Attoh
E) House of Gold- Production design-Pascal Amanfo, Set decoration- Bismark Nii Odoi
(6) EDITINGNorthern Affair -Dave Goldberg
Contract -Nana Akua Manso
Nkuli -Afra Marley
House of Gold -Okey Benson
The Hunter -Enoch Opoku(7) MUSIC- ORIGINAL SONGA) One Night Vegas -Music and lyrics by Kobby Maxwell
B) Okomfo Anokye – Music and lyrics by Abena Fosua
C) House of Gold – Music and lyrics by Berni Anti and Mercy Chinwo
D) Northern Affair -Music and lyrics by Jon Germain and Kofi Aykeame
E) Contract- Music and lyrics by-Raquel
(8) PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLEKwadwo Nkansah (Lilwin)- Time Changes
Henry Adofo Asiedu- House of Gold
Jon Germain – Northern Affairs
Van Vicker- One Night in Vegas
Edward Agyekum Kufuor –The Pledge(9) PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLELydia Forson- Volunteers
Lisa Nana yaa Awuku- Nkuli
Rose Mensah- (Kyeiwaa)- Time Changes
Roselyn Ngissah- The Pledge
Joselyn Dumas- Northern Affair
(10) PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLEJohn Dumelo- Northern Affair
Kofi Adu (Agya Koo)- Okomfo Anokye
Adjetey Annang- The Hunters
James Gardiner- Nkuli
Majid Michel-The Price(11) PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLEJackie Appiah- Cheaters
Yvonne Okoro-Contract
Maame Serwaa – School Girl
Yvonne Nelson- The Price
Sonia Ibrahim- Number One Fan(12) MAKE UP AND HAIR STYLISTBarima Nye Sunye – Jude Odeh
Purple Rose – Lydia Ashietey
The Price- Foreal Mensah
House of Gold -Joyce Mensah
(13) SOUND MIXING & EDITINGContract- Mawuli Tofah
House of Gold- Berni Anti
Northern Affair- Shaun Burdick
One Night in Vegas- Black Tim(14) SHORT MOVIECampus Scandals
Galamsey
Hospitals
(15) BEST PICTURENorthern Affair
Contract
Hunter
House of Gold
One Night in Vegas
Number One Fan
Purple Rose
The Pledge
Finding Mercy
Okomfo Anokye
THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA! PR EXECUTIVE SACKED AFTER TWEETING OFFENSIVE COMMENT ON AFRICA
If you have ever doubted the power of social media in influencing certain decisions, you should change your mind after reading this. Mind you, as helpful as social media is, it could be deadly. It all started with what seemed like an harmless tweet by a certain PR executive named Justine Sacco. Few minutes after she was about boarding a South Africa-bound plane, she posted a great mistake of a racist tweet on her twitter page. "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!"
Before she could say Jack Robinson, the offensive comment had spread across. the social media and had sparked lots of angry responses. Unfortunately for her, it could not be corrected during a 12-hour flight without an internet connection, several calls were also put to the company she worked for (IAC) asking for her dismissal. Meanwhile before she landed, a hashtag #HasJustineLanded had started trending.
Although she deleted the company and all her social media accounts after she touched down SA but it was pretty late as the company relieved her of her job. A statement was even issued to its effect. "There is no excuse for the hateful statements that have been made and we condemn them unequivocally, We hope, however, that time and action, and the forgiving human spirit, will not result in the wholesale condemnation of an individual who we have otherwise known to be a decent person at core."
ARSENAL TILL I DIE! CHECK OUT PHOTOS FROM EMPRESS NJAMAH'S BIRTHDAY PARTY
READ ARSENE WENGER'S CHRISTMAS LETTER TO SANTA.
The letter was written from Arsene Wenger's parody account on twitter, so kindly take it with a pinch of salt.lol. I enjoyed it, you should too.Dear Santa,I must say, you manage to show every year consistently consistent consistency to come back on loan from Lapland and deliver presents to everybody around the world. To do that, all in one night – to reach every house, on a limited budget, having built a new stadium – is absolutely outstanding. I believe it takes tremendous spirit, a fantastic attitude and efficiently efficient efficiency.I have never once in all the years heard you mention your sleigh suffering a small handbrake niggle, or your reindeers lacking little bit petrol in the tank. It is an exceptional record. Will I give you another two-year contract? Well, err, I don't know about that. I believe in your quality but you are over 30 years old now. Even Dennis Bergkamp accepted only one-year deals.Have I been good this year? Yes, I believe I have, but I don't want to comment on individual months. I must tell you, it has not been an easy time. A neighbour complained that I was in little bit "negative spiral" at work, but I don't have to justify every decision. It was a difficult period.The attention was little bit un-com-fort-able, but I did not want to comment on speculation. I must tell you, I felt the criticism was little bit harsh, because apart from losing matches, not scoring goals and minding little bit gap, there was not a lot in it. We had to work super, super hard to show our quality and to achieve our targets. The neighbour who made the accusation has recently found his own negative spiral and has been sacked.What would I like for Christmas? Well, err, I would like please the same present that I ask you for every Christmas. Maximum points. We face some very difficult matches now but we want to do well. We are up for it. I still feel it is little bit too early to talk about winning the championship, especially as everybody tells me that we cannot do it. Is it fair for Alan Shearer to say that? I don't know. I don't know Shearer.Would a guarantee of definitely finishing above Tottenham be a welcome extra present? Well yes, that would be nice thank you, but Tottenham are already the gift that keeps giving. Although, I must tell you, I do have some other small small requests, if that is alright. As you might have heard, we are suffering from little bit almost nine-year silverware niggle. Any help there would be exceptional, thank you.So apart from winning the championship, the Champions League and the FA Cup please Santa, I don't need much else. I already earn £7.5million a year and I am close to agreeing a new three-year contract. Maybe a new coat. Well, thank you for your interest in my affairs. I know you have many people to visit over Christmas but, from all at Arsenal Football Club, I can tell you we are immensely proud that you always wear your Arsenal colours. That red-and-white kit is outstanding.When I sit down with my family for our grilled chicken and broccoli on Christmas Day, I will remember the fantastic work you have done Santa for this club, over the years. Apart maybe from Lehmann's sending-off against Barcelona.
Although perhaps you did not see the incident.
Yours, Arsene