River mysteriously turns blood-red in China. (Photos)

All I think of is Egypt and Exodus. So, a river mysteriously turned blood-red in Eastern China yesterday. Residents of Zhejiang first noticed the crimson colour in early Thursday and according to them, the river colour was normal around 5am but one hour later, it turned to red.
Investigators from the Wenzhou Environmental Protection Bureau concluded that since a food colouring company, a clothing shop and a paper manufacturer is along the river, it’s possible someone dropped a colouring in the water.

“We suspect that somebody dumped artificial colouring in the water because he thought the typhoon yesterday would cause heavy rain, and nobody would notice. It turned out there wasn’t heavy rainfall yesterday, so the evidence is left behind.”
Ironically, this strange incident has turned out to be a blessing to locals within the area.
“The really weird thing is that we have been able to catch fish because the water is normally so clear,” one villager revealed.

Richard Mofe-Damijo to be honoured with Nollywood chieftancy title

I can hear all your queries, When did Nollywood start giving out chieftaincy titles? I am just as surprised as you are. For his immense contributions to the Nigerian movie industry christened Nollywood, actor, Richard Mofe-Damijo, fondly called RMD, is set to be honoured with a chieftaincy title – “Dike Oha na Nollywood.”
The honour will be bestowed on the Delta State Commissioner for Arts and Culture during the three-day Nollywood Igbo Film Festival which will take place in Asaba, Delta state from August 27th to August 30th. Nze Harris Chuma, founder of the festival hinted.

Photo of the day: Doctors bow to an 11 year-old boy

Doctors in China pictured bowing to this 11 year-old boy who donated multiple organs. Sensing he could die at any minute, the boy asked the doctors to remove useful organs from his body and use it for patients who might need them. He breathed his last shortly after.

KICC founder, Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo's first son weds. (Photos)

KICC founder, Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo’s first son, Tomi Michael Ashimolowo and his Sierra Leonean heartthrob, Dorothy Jeneba Kamara are having their traditional wedding ceremony in Kent, United Kingdom. The ceremony is taking place at the Silver Spoon Cuisine in Chatham. Nigerian celebs at the event include Dele Momodu, Seyi law and many more.
Credit: Dele Momodu

Everyone is Crazy in Lagos | By: Etcetera

Few weeks ago, I got a call from a friend asking me out for a drink, but I was already at the Lagos airport. “I’m not going to be around for the next few days,” I told him. “I’m going to Abuja.” His immediate reaction was – “Why? What’s wrong? Do you want to bore yourself to death?”  That’s the typical response I get whenever I tell someone I am travelling to Abuja. Abuja is a beautiful city with a terrible reputation for boredom. I have heard people in other cities speak of Lagos as a noisy, dirty and dangerous city filled with crazy people. In truth, everyone in Lagos is crazy. What else do you expect in a state crammed with 22 million people? 

Lagos has a peculiar vibe that can’t be found anywhere in the world, so much that “Lagos Hustle” is a commonly used phrase among Nigerians. I would rather go crazy living in Lagos than be bored to death in Abuja, Ibadan or Enugu. Abuja leaves you chewing your finger nails out of boredom. If you doubt me, whenever you have a visitor from Abuja, check his/her finger nails. They are always short and well chewed. Even the Hausa local nail trimmers have all migrated elsewhere due to the nail scarcity. 
It is said that people in Lagos argue for at least two hours daily. It is true; we love to generate arguments out of everything. We argue everywhere, in buses and even during church services. Now Telemundo has become a cause for more argument among the girls here.  So why are they surprised that we are crazy in this city? How many people can stay sane for long with the screams of Telemundo girls and the wailing sirens of police and government officials constantly beating their eardrums?

Even the supposedly rugged Lagos rats can’t bear it too, that’s why they are always scampering from one gutter to another. If only we can understand what those rats would be saying to themselves about the cars with wailing sirens and flashing blue lights which have now become the city’s official ride for big boys. Don’t they know that it is by far the easiest way to advertise their arrivals to all the criminals in the city?  

Let’s add all the roaring vehicle engines, blaring horns, the arguments of the association of free newspaper readers at every bus stop, the street preachers with megaphones every morning, the open trucks filled with dancing skimpy dressed models selling almost expired products, or the rickety tortoise cars with dead PA system selling gbogbonise and the CD/DVD sellers blasting latest naija vibes.  
Anybody expecting to find a sane person in Lagos must be crazy indeed. It is like looking for a virgin in Nollywood. It is a city with an official soundtrack emanating from millions of generators rumbling constantly all through the day and night. But as crazy as it is in Lagos, I love it. I love the fact that it is like the city is divided in two halves, for non smokers and smokers.

Or how can anyone explain to me why Apapa is always covered in thick smoke? Call it trailer exhaust fumes or smoke from burning tyres, what I know is that whenever I am passing through Apapa, it is as if I have suddenly walked into the smokers section of a night club. I love the fact that this city doesn’t discriminate. And that all the money of the rich offers no protection from the most trying aspect of life here. Aggression is imperative and timidity on the road is seized upon by everyone even pedestrians. 

When driving, you are caught up, over-taken and honked at all at once. All drivers seem to be afflicted with honk sickness. You get in a taxi late at night when there isn’t a single other car on the road, and the driver is still blasting his horn at five seconds intervals for the entire journey. It is even worse when the traffic is gridlocked. Ask the millions who experience this bottleneck from the mainland to the commercial districts on the Island daily. 
A guy dropped his friend at Lagos airport to catch a flight to South Africa. When he received his text message saying he had landed safely at Joburg airport, he was still in traffic on the way back to Victoria Island. We don’t have much of a tourist industry in Lagos at the moment but thank God for Makoko, an extraordinary floating slum, where everyone travels round in boats. It is our own version of Venice. Thanks to the governor, the dividends of democracy can now be felt in some places in the city. Let’s take the Ojota dump site for example, it has become symbolic of everything that past governments have tried to achieve.
What used to look at first sight a rough, lawless, dangerous place has become a well-organised place where good money is earned by local street boys who now prefer a life of grime to a life of crime. Some of them are university graduates.
 
Lagos is a shining example of democracy. Even the area boys and those scavengers on the streets for things to re-sell have their own democratically elected chairmen, who sort out any arguments or disagreements. 
Don’t you love the look of today’s Oshodi, especially when you are standing on the bridge feeding your eyes with the wonderful mosaic of human beings like a colourful artwork? The traders are constantly feeding energy into the atmosphere with their hilarious but innovative marketing methods, giving visitors from various parts of the world a first hand view of how lucrative and conducive this city is for their businesses. But it is imperative to have lots of patience and a good sense of humour to survive here. 
Planning is crucial if you want to get things done. You must make contingencies because most of the time things don’t go according to plan, whether you are caught in argument or in traffic. For tourists, it is important to note that there are no up-to-date visitors’ guide on sale anywhere. And the few guidebooks available do not pretend to over-sell the city’s destinations. But one thing you won’t need guidebook to notice are the mechanic workshops littered all over the city. The good thing about this is that whenever you go hungry, just walk into the nearest one and you are sure to find a mama-put (restaurant). 
Lagos is noisy, polluted, corrupt, lawless and ungovernable, but beneath these stereotypes are some of the most hardworking, passionate and big thinkers on earth. Thousands of people make their living by selling all kinds of stuff in traffic jams: household provisions, mobile phones, electrical appliances, wrist watches, books, clothes, popcorn, machetes, soup ingredients, wheel chairs, rat poison, CDs, DVDs, pets, you can even buy a brand new car in traffic. It is quite innovative and convenient because most Lagos residents prefer to do their shopping on the go. 

I love Lagos because this is the only city in the world where you can leave home for work stark naked and be sure to buy everything you want to wear in traffic. They’ve got ironing boards too in case you want your clothes starched and properly ironed. Eko o ni baje oo.

Rapper, Naeto C and wife welcome baby no 2

Nigerian rapper, Naetochukwu Chikwe popularly called Naeto C and his wife, Nicole have welcomed their second child- a baby girl. She put to bed yesterday in the UK. The couple who got married in 2014 had their first child; a boy last year March.

Congrats to them.

Nigerian gets N11m in Quran contest

A Nigerian, Sulaiman Abdulkarim Isa has landed himself a cool Dh250,000 (N11m) cash for being the top memoriser of the Quran in the international Quran completion category at the 18th session of the Dubai International Holy Quran Award (DIHQA).
He edged out Saudi Arabia’s Omar Hussain Baeisa and Yemen’s Mohammed Khaled Yaseen who emerged second and third runner respectively. He was also named the “Islamic personality of the year”. The first and second runner ups got Dh200,000 and Dh150,000.

Women in Marketing Conference and Awards (WIMCA) 2014 set for inaugural edition.

The maiden edition of Women in Marketing Conference and Awards (WIMCA) 2014; an initiative of Awesome Communications, publishers of frontline brands and Marketing journal, Brand Communicator is set to hold in Lagos. Themed, “Inspiring Change in Marketing: Taking the centre stage”. This ground breaking event will take place at the Shell hall, MUSON Centre, Onikan Lagos, Come Thursday 31st of July 2014.
Speaking about the event, Joshua Ajayi, publisher of the magazine disclosed that, “WIMCA was borne out of the need to identify the challenges holding back female executives from attaining the zenith in their chosen career, and proffering workable solutions to those challenges. We also conceived this idea due to a need to recognise and celebrate women who have weathered the storm and have risen through the ranks to attain remarkable heights in the field of marketing, and marketing communications.”


He added that, “Amongst many other things, WIMCA seeks to ignite the potential in women towards attaining enviable heights in marketing and management, create a platform for networking among women in the marketing and communications industry, inspire the entrepreneurial spirit in women towards creating and sustaining enduring marketing and communications industry businesses, and provide a mentorship platform for young and prospective professionals.”
Guest speakers already confirmed for the conference include, Idonrenyen Enang, The Managing Director, L’Oreal West Africa, and Biola Alabi, Principal Partner, Biola Alabi Media, and Former Managing Director, Mnet Africa. Kola Oyeyemi, (General Manager Consumer Marketing, MTN Nigeria), Kachi Onubogu, Executive Director, Commercial, Promasidor Nigeria, Procter and Gamble Nigeria, Yinka Ogunde, Managing Director, Goals and Ideas Communications, Ehinomen Enekabor Associate Director, Brand Operations, Procter and Gamble Nigeria, Lanre Adisa, Managing Director, Noah’s Ark Communications, Ayona Aguelle-Trimnell, Head Corporate Communications, Diamond Bank and Deborah Shepherd, Head Of Marketing, Nokia West Africa, have also all been confirmed as discussants.
The second part of the event is the awards, which seek to honour senior female marketing communications professionals across various sectors of the economy. For this inaugural edition, the awards would be spread across the following categories; Financial Sector, Fast Moving Consumer Goods (Marketing), Fast Moving Consumer Goods (Corporate Communications), Telecoms, Creative Advertising, public Relations (Agency business), Out-Of-Home Advertising. The Eighth category is a life time achievement award to an individual who has contributed to the founding and sustaining of a key marketing communications enterprise.
Procter and Gamble Nigeria, makers of Always Sanitary pad, Ariel, Oral-B, Duracell batteries, Pampers, Safeguard are the Platinum sponsors for the event. Bronze sponsors for the event are Dark&Lovely, Nokia and Promasidor. Strategic partners for the event include Plural Media, New Crystal Communications, Poster Prints, Heritage point Media, Noah’s Ark Communications, Kiss events, Verdant Zeal Communications, Brooks + Blake, and Streettoolz.
Expected attendees include, Chief Executives of Marketing Communications businesses, Marketing Directors of Corporate Organisations, Senior Advertising Practitioners and Professionals, Senior and Middle level female executives in Creative, Public Relations, Media Planning, Digital, and Experiential Marketing agencies, Female Members of Corporate Communications and Marketing Departments in Corporate Organisations, Marketing managers, Brand Managers, and Product Managers, Industry recognised professional Bodies, such as APCON, NIMN, CIM, Members of advertising Industry groups: MIPAN, AAAN, OAAN, PRCAN, ADVAN, EXMAN as well as female Students of Mass Communication, Marketing and Allied disciplines.
WIMCA is a free to attend event, however, registration is required online at www.wimcang.com.
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